Running Together - Life goes on for Chuck and Sarah
by ReaganCaseyFan
Summary: Starts immediately after the end of vs The Goodbye. Gunfire forces Chuck and Sarah to flee the beach. Sarah suddenly finds herself questioning her decision to trust Chuck. Is he really who he claims? Is their story true? Can Sarah trust him. Sarah's inner turmoil resurfaces and Agent Walker tries to gain control from the fragile Sarah Bartowski.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Chuck.

 _This story starts immediately after the end of vs The Goodbye. Sarah and Chuck are forced to run from their spot on the beach. Sarah is forced to trust Chuck without her memories of the past five years._

The breeze off the ocean gusted, blowing the empty glass beer bottle over, causing it to roll along the concrete sidewalk running from the beach past the house to the parking area. The sound made an anxious Sarah twitch as she looked out the window towards the trees surrounding the few, asphalted parking spots.

For the umpteenth time in the past three hours Sarah slowly and cautiously made a perimeter check around the sparsely furnished house, clutching her combat knife in her right hand, her senses attuned to the slightest change in sound, movement or light. With no apparent threat present, Sarah returned to her spot on the couch where she could observe both the approach from the beach and the parking area without being observed from the outside.

Darkness came quickly with the setting of the sun and a gentle rainstorm moved in from the ocean. With her visibility reduced, Sarah's anxiousness increased, her sense of impending danger slowly raising her anxiety level. Breathing became more difficult, the feeling of a hand pressing down on her chest and her inability to have a full view of the approaches to the house were making a panic attack likely.

Sarah walked to the rear of the house and did a visual sweep of the beach. Not seeing any threats she slowly opened the door and stepped out onto the covered porch. She walked to the edge of the porch, placing her back against the wall and slowly let herself slide down the wall to a sitting position, her knees pulled up under her chin with her knife held out from her body as she watched the rain fall.

 _Breath deep and slow Sarah. Deep and Slow. Breath in. Breath out. Calm yourself. Let your senses be alert. Be aware of your surroundings. Be ready to fight._ As the feeling of panic began to reside, Sarah reached a decision. _He's got one more hour then I run. He promised I could trust him, but can I?_

Her throat feeling dry from thirst, Sarah stood and slowly made her way back inside the house. She walked to the kitchen, opened a cabinet door and looked for a glass. Finding one she filled it with water from the sink and slowly drank until the glass was empty.

Returning to the couch, Sarah checked her few possessions and made sure her suitcase was by the back door. She was ready to run when the time came.

Checking her watch, Sarah watched as the minute hand moved steadily to the time she had determined she would run. Fifteen minutes more and she would flee. She felt torn, like she was being pulled in two within and the mental torment was almost unbearable.

 _Could she trust him? Would he protect her? Would he hurt her? Would she hurt him? She knew Sarah Bartowski loved Chuck with all her heart, but she wasn't Sarah Bartowski anymore. Chuck loved that Sarah. Could he love this Sarah? Would he protect the Sarah she was? Would he love her?_

The not knowing the answers to these questions, the very questions that ran through her mind constantly whether she was awake or dreaming, haunted her. Further pushed her towards doing what Sarah Walker did when trouble became too dangerous, she ran.

 _Enough. Better to end this now and run. Chuck will be safer and so will I. So will Chuck's family and friends. Better to just end it so everyone can move on with their lives._ Sarah stood and moved slowly, silently towards her suitcase.

Hearing the sound of shoes scuffing the sidewalk coming from the beach, Sarah dropped into a fighting stance, holding her knife in front of her, ready to strike. She moved slowly into the far corner of the room where she could see the door clearly but was shrouded from view by the shadows in the room. She fought to control her breathing, to remain calm and focused. Sarah chose to become Sarah Walker at that moment. She was ready to kill.

Two gentle knocks on the door disrupted the sound of the gentle rain falling on the house, breaking the otherwise silent soundscape. A long pause was followed by two more gentle knocks on the door. Sarah watched as the doorknob slowly turned and the door swung inward inch by inch.

Chuck's voice traveled through the door, "Sarah? Sarah? I'm back. I am sorry it took so long."

Chuck took a step inside the house and stopped. "Sarah, are you here?" The tension in his voice was evident, fearful.

"I'm here," Sarah whispered, still ready to fight or flee.

Chuck stepped into the room, carrying a bag of groceries in his left hand, his tranq gun in his right. He wore a heavily laden backpack. Shutting the door with his foot, Chuck stepped towards the light switch and flicked on the room lights.

In an instant Sarah flew across the room and flicked the lights off. "What are you trying to do, get us killed" she hissed at Chuck, brandishing her knife at him. "The lights will silhouette us to any sniper watching!"

Chuck flinched and stepped away, nearly dropping the bag of groceries. He was soaking wet, dripping water on the floor, his hair normally neatly groomed, plastered to his head. "Sarah, it's ok. You're right about the lights. Let's draw the curtains and go in the kitchen. No one will see us in there," he calmly said.

Sarah backed up a step, watching Chuck with her enforcer's glare, still in a combat stance, wary and ready to strike.

Chuck slowly walked to the kitchen and set the bag of groceries and his tranq gun down on the counter before shrugging off the backpack and setting it on the floor. Running his hands through his wet hair, Chuck returned to the living room and without looking at Sarah began to draw the curtains at each window, throwing the room into even greater darkness. Sarah watched Chuck, slowly turning in the middle of the room, suspicious, uncertain and confused.

Chuck returned to the kitchen and took off his wet Buy More jacket and hung it on the hook by the door from the kitchen to the carport. He then cut on the kitchen light and sat down at the kitchen table. Opening his backpack, he looked up and motioned for Sarah to leave the dark living room and come to him, to sit with him in the light of the kitchen.

"It's ok Sarah. I brought dinner and I have something you'll like. Something of yours that you will remember," Chuck said softly.

Her feelings of anxiety and impending danger began to lessen. Sarah inched forward towards the kitchen, lowering her knife, still alert and ready to strike. She walked slowly to the table, unsure of herself, and sat down.

She looked at Chuck, her husband she could not remember. He smiled at her and did not move, sensing Sarah was frightened, that the Sarah sitting before him was more Agent Walker than Sarah, his wife.

"I promised you could trust me. I brought you something to help you do that. Actually, I have brought you several things. That's part of why I was gone so long," Chuck gently told her.

Chuck slowly moved his hand to his backpack. "I am going to reach in and begin removing things. Is that OK?"

Sarah nodded her head while tightening her grip on her knife. She wanted to trust Chuck. Her heart told her this man would not hurt her on purpose and if he could, he would do anything protect her. Sarah shook her head as the feelings of distrust and the need to strike again crept into her head. Agent Walker was trying to gain control of Sarah.

"Who opened fire at us on the beach? Why did you bring me here? What is going on? I want answers or I'm leaving. You said I could trust you. You told me our story and we kissed. Then bullets are flying everywhere. I let my guard down and I was nearly killed." Sarah paused before continuing. "Part of me wants to trust you. The other part of me wants to dispose of you and run."

"Sarah, this just breaks my heart. Again, I love you, I want to protect you, and yes, I want my wife back..But, you have a point." Chuck looked squarely into Sarah's eyes. His blonde angel looked frightened, yet determined. If nothing else, Sarah was a survivor.

"Here, I brought you this. I think you'll feel safer and I hope it will help you trust me a little more." Chuck slowly reached into his backpack and cautiously withdrew his hand, holding Sarah's favorite sidearm. Chuck extended his hand slowly, gripping the gun by its barrel, offering the gun to Sarah with the grip facing her.

Sarah looked from her pistol to Chuck and back. Swallowing, she set her knife down on the table and quickly reached for her side arm. She took it from Chuck, checked the breach and worked the slide. The gun was loaded and appeared to be in perfect working condition.

"I don't know if you rember this, but I really don't like guns. That's why I carry a tranq pistol. You on the other hand, like guns, not like Casey does, but you like them. I know that about you. I thought you might feel safer with your own pistol. It also gives you a definite advantage over me." Chuck fell silent, allowing the meaning and weight of what he had just done to sink in.

Sarah felt the tension in her body lessen ever so slightly. Chuck had just made a very dangerous concession, all to prove she could trust him. "I'm listening," she said.

"It would mean a great deal to me if you would consider carrying this with you." Chuck reached back into the backpack and withdrew a jewelry box. Sarah felt her heart quicken. It couldn't be her wedding band and engagement ring. She couldn't, and wouldn't put those back on. Not now.

Chuck opened the box and removed a charm bracelet. Sarah knew from their story it was a Christmas gift and was a significant symbol of their love, a part of their tempestuous courtship.

"Sarah, you used to love this. Carina loved to tease you about it. I loved seeing you wear it. So did Ellie and Mom. You don't have to wear it. But I want you to have it. It would make me feel a little more secure if you kept with your things. Would you do that for me?" Chuck's patient face showed a little bit of worry, causing Sarah to realize this was important to him, that it should be important to her as well.

"I'll keep it but I'm not going to wear it. Chuck, this is all…."

"Sarah, I get it. I just get insecure still. You helped me so much with gaining confidence. I just need a little boost right now, you know? You always protected us. You were the guardian and Casey had our back." Chuck paused, "Casey is gone now, stalking Gertrude as he likes to put it. Sarah, I have to protect us now. I am responsible for you now, for both of us. I know you think you can protect yourself without my help, but we don't even know who is hunting us. We need each other," Chuck pleaded.

Sarah took the bracelet and reached for the box. Placing the bracelet in the box and closing it, Sarah looked at Chuck, his eyes pleading. "Confidence is a good thing. If my keeping the box and the bracelet for now helps you, it is the least I can for you," Sarah told him. Chuck smiled and somehow keeping the bracelet in her possession felt good to Sarah.

"I brought you some clothes and sleepwear. I think I have all of your girly maintenance stuff as Casey calls it. It's been a long day. We are both tired. I have some perimeter warning devices we'll need to set and then let's get some sleep. Ok?" Chuck looked at her, hoping he had allayed some of her fears, restored just a little trust.

"Well, I do seem to recall you can't cook and it's raining. You set the warning devices while I make dinner." Sarah smiled at him and stood, walking to the counter to see what Chuck and brought for them to eat.

"I see how it is, some things don't change, memory loss or not," Chuck said with a smile, putting on his wet jacket and picking up his backpack.

 **After dinner:**

Sarah put the last of the leftovers in the refrigerator and whipped down the counter one last time. Leaving the kitchen she turned off the light. In the other wing of the house Sarah could hear Chuck in the shower. She walked to the bedroom and looked through her suitcase and the few things Chuck had brought for her to wear. She carefully placed the box containing the bracelet in a side pocket of the suitcase before picking out a pair of boxer shorts and a t-shirt, Sarah suddenly tossed them aside and pulled out a pretty nightgown that would fall just below the top of her thigh.

Sarah felt the anxiety return suddenly, a knot forming in her abdomen and the butterflies began to flutter and take flight. She backed up from the bed, staring at the t-shirt and boxer shorts and the feminine nightshirt. Why was the sight of her clothes causing her to panic?

Sarah slowly reached out and picked up her nightgown. It was not brand new and she could see where the shoulder strap had been sewn back on. Evidently it had been removed a little too quickly in the past and sewn back on. The thought caused her breath to catch and she brought her hand to her mouth.

Sarah tossed the nightie back on the bed and picked up the boxer shorts. They were covered in stormtrooper helmets. These were Chucks! She tossed them quickly back on the bed. She picked up the t-shirt. It was an extra-large and had a Delorean on the front. Also Chucks. But these weren't from the backpack. They had come from her suitcase. She had packed these. Sarah picked the t-shirt back up and held it to her face. She could smell the faintest trace of her perfume. She had slept in this before. When she was Sarah Bartowski, Chuck's wife.

Sarah heard the water in the shower turn off. Chuck would be out in just a minute. She had to decide what to wear for bed. The boxers and t-shirt looked comfortable but she didn't want to communicate the sense of familiarity they would convey to Chuck.

Sarah slipped out her clothes quickly and slipped the nightgown on. Sarah looked in the mirror and gulped. This was not a good idea either. Her cleavage was exposed and enhanced by the cut of the top, the bottom barely covering her. No wonder the strap had been pulled off.

Sarah quickly slipped the nightgown off and put on the Delorean t-shirt and left her panties on. She tossed the boxers and nightgown in her suitcase and shut it before slipping between the blankets. Lying flat on her back, Sarah pulled the blankets up to her chin, grasping the edge of the bedcovers with hands.

Chuck walked into the bedroom with his pajama pants on and a white undershirt, his hair unruly from being towel dried, his toothbrush protruding from his mouth. He smiled and mumbled while brushing his teeth and then turned and left the room. Sarah heard him rinse his mouth and his toothbrush.

The light in the hall winked out and Chuck poked his head into the bedroom and looked squarely at Sarah. "I want you to be comfortable. It is important to me to establish with you, the fact you can trust me. The gunfire at our spot on the beach was a major setback to establishing that trust." Chuck smiled one of his sweet, loving smiles.

"The choice is yours Sarah. I will sleep on the couch if you want. If you would feel safer with me in the bedroom with you, I will sleep on the floor." Chuck smiled again and waited for Sarah to make her decision.

Sarah sensed this was an important choice. Not just for her protection, but for restoring trust. Agent Walker struggled to tell Chuck to sleep on the couch. Sarah decided she wanted to Chuck to sleep in the bedroom with her. Before she could make up her mind, Sarah heard herself say "please sleep in the bedroom. I would feel a little safer."

Chuck beamed a huge smile and quickly left the bedroom. A puzzled Sarah listened to Chuck's quick footsteps enter the kitchen and return. Chuck stopped in the doorway and looked at her, smiling. In his left hand he held her pistol and in his right he held her knife. "Here, you usually slept with this knife under your pillow," Chuck told her, extending her two weapons to her. Sarah gratefully accepted both, tucking the knife quickly under her pillow and setting the pistol on the bedside table.

Chuck walked to the closet and opened the door, turning on the closet light. Sarah heard noises in the close and suddenly two pillows flew out, followed by some blankets. Sarah lifted her head and asked, "Chuck, what are you doing?"

Chuck stuck his head out and told her, "the floor is not comfortable. I want to get some rest you know, hence the blankets, pillows, you know."

Feeling anxious for a reason she could not explain, Sarah looked at the floor. Something from the dark recesses of her mind caused her to say, "Chuck, I'm not going to make you sleep on the floor. It's gross. If you try anything funny, I'm armed and dangerous." Chuck laughed and broke into a huge grin.

"I'll keep that in mind Agent Walker. I give you my word, no funny stuff on my part," he said with a laugh.

Sarah, sensing Chuck was laughing at her, felt a bit annoyed. "What's so funny, Chuck," she demanded.

Chuck moved to the laptop, checking the warning system he had set up. He moved to the light switch and smiled at Sarah before telling her "you've told me something similar to that before. Now I like gross bedroom floors. Oh, and Sarah, one more thing."

"What Chuck?"

"We both sleep better if you're on the other side of the bed."

Chuck cut the lights out.


	2. Chapter 2 - A Morning at the Beach House

Chuck and Sarah Run – Chapter Two

 **Disclaimer:** I don't own Chuck but I wish I did.

Sarah stirred, waking slowly, resisting the return to consciousness. Feeling warm and comfortable, she stretched her feet, making her suddenly aware her feet were intertwined with Chucks. Lifting her head, she realized she was laying on her left side, her back pressed against Chuck's chest, her right hand holding Chuck's, their fingers intertwined.

Letting go of his hand, Sarah slowly moved to "her side of the bed," watching Chuck as she moved. Chuck stirred restlessly for a moment, making smacking sounds with his mouth before drifting back into a deeper sleep. His hair was a mess, having been damp when the two of them had drifted off to sleep.

 _How did I wind up like that?_ Sarah thought, distinctly remembering going to sleep flat on her back, with the covers pulled up to her chin, holding on tightly with both hands. In fact, she had been close to the edge of the bed after moving over when Chuck asked her to change sides of the bed, telling her they slept better when she was on the left side of the bed.

She watched Chuck sleep. He was peaceful resting there in the bed, right arm still reaching out to where Sarah had lain just a few moments ago. _This is not the first time the two of us have slept like this. Real or not, we slept together like this on a regular basis._

Sarah turned to lay on her right side and watched Chuck as he slowly woke up, realizing she had done this before as well. Chuck opened one eye, blinked, and then opened his other eye. Slowly a big smile emerged on his face before Chuck yawned, stretched and then smiled again.

"Sweetie, it's your turn to take a shower this morning. Let me go to the bathroom real quick first," Chuck said, quickly getting out of bed and hustling to the bathroom. Sarah heard the door shut and the water faucet was suddenly cut on. Moments later, Chuck emerged and entered the bedroom where he promptly dove back on to his side of the bed. "All yours Sarah," Chuck said as he pulled a pillow over his head.

Within minutes Chuck was snoring gently, once again sound asleep. Sarah stretched, realizing she felt rested and ready to face the day. _Did I always feel like this in the morning? Does sleeping with Chuck help me rest bette_ r?

Not wanting to consider the implications of the much needed night of rest she had just had, Sarah got out of bed and began searching in her suitcase for the clothes she would wear that day. She paused as she looked at Chuck's backpack. He had said her "female maintenance" items were in there.

Sarah felt a moment's indecision about searching Chuck's backpack. Agent Walker quickly dispelled her qualms. _I need my things and I need to know what he has in there. If he wakes up, I will simply tell him I was looking for my things_ , Sarah thought.

Reaching into the backpack, Sarah found two large zip-lock bags containing her make-up, toiletries, hair products, brushes, curling iron and just beneath her hair dryer. Chuck murmured in his sleep, causing Sarah to quickly take her items and her clothes with her to the bathroom, leaving the rest of the backpack unsearched.

Sarah locked the door behind her and turned on the water in the shower, letting it run to get hot. She used the toilet to relieve herself and finished undressing, noticing Chuck had left three towels on the sink. How does he know I use three towels she thought before quickly realizing it would be something a husband would know about his wife.

Stepping in the shower, Sarah let the hot water run over her body. She washed every inch of her body and then her hair before finally turning the water to cold for a few minutes. Turning the water off, Sarah reached for the first of the three towels, drying herself and her hair. Tossing the first towel on the floor, Sarah stepped out of the shower and picked up a second towel and wrapped it around herself, using it as a robe. Finally, she picked up the third and final towel, wrapping her damp hair with it. Once attired, Sarah began her morning routine of brushing her teeth, putting on her makeup and doing her hair for the day.

Pleased with the work she had done, Sarah removed the towel covering her body and put on her underwear. She slipped on her form fitting black jeans and noticed she had brought two blouses with her, one purple and slightly faded and a salmon colored blouse that looked brand new, but of a somewhat outdated style.

Wondering why she would have a blouse in such good condition that was slightly out of style, Sarah picked up the salmon colored blouse and ran the fingers of her right hand over the material. She knew there was a reason she seldom wore this blouse, that in fact she had never worn it. Why did she purchase the blouse and then never wear it?

A sudden, bright light struck Sarah, blinding her with its intensity, bringing with it immense pain. It lasted only seconds, leaving her gasping for breath and feeling slightly unstable on her feet. As quickly as it happened, the episode was over.

Sarah stood up straight, testing her balance and slowing her breathing. The intense pain was gone. Looking down, she saw she had dropped the two blouses. Bending over to pick them up, Sarah suddenly realized the reason she had never worn the salmon colored blouse.

Immediately, Sarah felt her stomach sink, as a memory of hurt came flashing back. She was standing in her hotel room with Chuck and Bryce standing before her vanity mirror, putting on their bow ties before that evening's mission. She was wearing a beautiful salmon colored gown, in fact she had bought the blouse at the same time, thinking Chuck would like how the color matched her own. Sarah remembered the hurt when Chuck had told her he didn't care for the color on her, remembered how she felt like Jenny had so many times in high school. How she had felt ugly and unlikeable. She remembered the look on Bryce's face, puzzled by her reaction to Chuck's insensitive comments.

Sarah flung the blouse into the bathroom garbage can and sat down suddenly on the toilet. _Chuck doesn't like that color, or does he? I don't remember, but I know I never wore that blouse because of the awful way he treated me that night._

Looking at the worn purple blouse Sarah realized she wore the blouse regularly. _Maybe Chuck likes me in purple._ Immediately, Sarah pulled the blouse on over her head and stood to look at herself in the mirror, turning from side to side to check her appearance.

Suddenly she felt a cold feeling creep over her body as Sarah realized a memory had come back. Should I tell him Sarah asked herself? Just as quickly Agent Walker appeared in her mind. _No, keep the fact to yourself. The memory is probably real. It feels real. It even explains where Beckman may have gotten the first inkling I had compromised myself with the asset if Bryce told her about my reaction to Chuck being a jerk. No, until I know I can trust Chuck I will keep this memory to myself._

Unlocking and opening the door, Sarah poked her head out, looking in each direction for Chuck. She could hear him in the kitchen, the smell of pancakes and bacon drifting through the air.

"Sweetie, is that you?" Chuck called. "Breakfast is almost ready."

"It's me. Breakfast smells great," Sarah said as she walked through the living room and entered the kitchen. Chuck smiled as he looked at her.

"You look wonderful," he said, his eyes taking in every inch of her. "You always look so pretty in purple," he added, laughing.

"What's so funny Chuck?" Sarah said, her ire rising quickly. "Is this some kind of secret? I hate secrets. Tell me what's so funny!"

"It's nothing really, well, actually it is," Chuck explained. "You see, I'm not always the most observant husband at times. Sometimes I certainly was thoughtless and insensitive as a boyfriend, whether as a cover boyfriend or real boyfriend. I wasn't laughing at you by the way. I was laughing at myself and the pickle I got myself into with Casey over this salmon colored dress you wore on a mission."

Intrigued, Sarah wanted to know more, needed to know more. She stomped her foot and crossed her arms, giving Chuck her most intimidating glare. "Spill it. No secrets."

"Well, you see, ah, it's kind of embarrassing. Bryce always made me feel really insecure, especially where you are concerned. He had just showed up again, alive, after we thought he was dead. Beckman had ordered you and Bryce to go undercover as the Andersons and I had to be a waiter at this party the mark was hosting. He and I were engaged in a sort of a pissing match about you while you were getting ready and out you came, looking stunning in this amazing red, or salmon colored dress," Chuck told her.

"I thought to myself, great, just great, Bryce will get to dance with Sarah all night in that dress, sexing her up. He'll get her back, just like that. It made me so mad, so jealous. And then you asked us how you looked. Like an idiot, I told you the dress was nice but I didn't like the color," Chuck admitted. "Evidently, well, not evidently, I really hurt your feelings. So much so, Casey picked up on it. Yeah, Casey, stone cold, cold school Casey. You might not remember it, but Casey really made a point to me of never doing that again."

A sudden sheepish look spread over Chuck's face as he admitted, "I could be oblivious to your feelings sometimes. Casey taught me to compliment you when you dressed up. He always said it was the right thing for me to do, to make your lady feelings feel good. Casey was right, too. You always seemed to just glow when I told you how wonderful you looked. It always made me feel better too, that just a few words from me made you smile like you did, and sometimes, you even acted kind of girly, which was always just the best."

Chuck sighed and looked down as he served the pancakes and bacon onto paper plates. "Would you like some juice," he asked, indicating two glasses of juice already poured on the counter.

Sarah sat at the kitchen table and let Chuck serve her a plate of food. "Juice would be nice," she said, watching Chuck set his own plate down before retrieving the two glasses of juice and bringing some plastic silverware.

Chuck had placed syrup on the table Sarah noticed. She reached for the bottle and poured some over her pancakes. She sat the syrup down and reached for her juice, taking a sip and setting the glass down. Fixing her gaze on Chuck, Sarah glared at him, indicating she knew there was more to this story and Chuck had better be forthcoming.

Chuck looked at Sarah, his face still bashful. "There's a bit more to the dress thing. Casey bought you a purple dress to wear to our mission at your high school reunion. I learned a lot about you that night, about Jenny."

At the mention of Jenny's name, Sarah immediately felt her emotional guard come up. She glared at Chuck with anger. "Don't talk to me about Jenny! She's off limits to you Chuck! My past is my past and it's off limits," Sarah shouted at Chuck. "Do. You. Understand!?" she shouted, rising from her chair.

Chuck pulled back, his eyes wide and his hands raised in front of his chest in a defensive posture. "Sarah, it's ok. I won't mention Jenny again. I promise. Sometimes I forget how you felt when you were Jenny. See, proof I can be an insensitive jerk sometimes, ok?"

Sarah slowly sat back down and continued eating pancakes, her anger at the mention of Jenny and high school subsiding. _How much does he know? How badly did I compromise myself? Why did Chuck have to bring Jenny up?_

"Chuck, I'm going to go sit on the porch and do a visual sweep of the beach area. I would like to be alone to think for a little while. Thank you for breakfast. The pancakes were good," Sarah told Chuck in a matter of fact manner before rising. She carried her paper plate and plastic utensils to the garbage can and disposed of them. Sarah quickly went to the bedroom and retrieved her sidearm and several knives, concealing them about her person. She exited to the porch and sat down in one of the chairs, starting her visual sweep of the terrain, looking for threats of any kind.

Chuck remained sitting in his chair at the kitchen table, baffled by Sarah's reaction to his story about the dress and his mentioning of Jenny. _I thought we had worked through a lot of her issues from when she was Jenny. Guess not. Guess the memory loss has really messed Sarah up again in more ways than I thought_.

 _Still, her reaction to the story about the dress itself was interesting. Why would she react like she did to my complimenting her appearance? Sarah always liked it, always, when I complimented her on her appearance. Unless she was really mad at me, it always got a smile out of her._ Chuck sat and stared at the remains of his breakfast, wondering about Sarah's sudden reaction. "Something's going on with her, something she's not telling me," Chuck whispered to himself.


	3. Chapter 3 - Paranoia

**Chapter Three – Paranoia**

The breeze from the ocean blew Sarah's blonde locks back as she faced the ocean. After a brief moment she resumed her scanning of the surrounding area for possible threats. After the anxiety of the past few weeks, the uncertainty of knowing what to do, the inner conflict that prevented her from making clear decisions, Sarah relaxed. Chuck still had to prove himself to be trustworthy to her, but for now, Sarah felt Chuck had something at stake in their survival, allowing her to relax knowing there was another vigilant individual watching her back.

Chuck was cleaning up inside and the sounds of him moving about the safe house bled through the walls of the house, allowing Sarah to track his movements as he moved about the house.

Sarah thought back to the time at "their spot" on the beach at Malibu. Without knowing why, she had gone there and simply waited. Chuck's arrival had not surprised her Sarah realized although she had not gone there to wait for him.

At her request Chuck had told her their love story. It matched so much of what Casey and Morgan had told her, what the video log Casey had given told her in her own words. But all of that could be faked. Quinn himself had told her the stories he had told her about Chuck were a lie, a lie designed to force her to obtain the Intersect for him.

Then there was Morgan's idea of a magic kiss. One kiss that would restore her damaged memory, restore her as Sarah Bartowski, Chuck's beloved wife. She had asked Chuck to kiss her, she had wanted the kiss to work. While her memories as such had not returned, Sarah had enjoyed kissing Chuck. Her body responded in such a way that Sarah knew physical intimacy was something the two of them had shared.

But it all could have been part of an elaborate cover. Bryce had used her for sex in the past. Why couldn't Chuck? Sarah thought back to her days as Jenny. She had been so lonely she would let boys touch her in places just to feel wanted, but the experiences only left her feeling dirty and more unlovable, hating herself, Jenny, even more. Jenny had never surrendered her virtue, but the experiences made her sense of abandonment by her father even greater, magnifying her distrust of men even more.

Sarah had a vague sense that Chuck had been a gentleman and treated her with respect. The past night when they had shared a bed seemed to reinforce her belief Chuck had never used her for purely physical reasons, that he had always treated her with respect in that regard.

Yet, Sarah still had a sense of unease about Chuck. Something she couldn't quite put her finger on, telling Sarah to be cautious in trusting Chuck. The more Sarah thought about withholding trust in Chuck until he had proven beyond a doubt, to Agent Walker, that Sarah could trust Chuck, the more confident she felt that was the right course of action.

Sarah's thoughts returned to the beach in Malibu. Chuck had told her that she could trust him. He had told her their love story and even the part of Sarah that was Agent Walker believed much of the story was true, if nothing else the story was true in the sense that it had been their cover. The kiss had been sweet and familiar. Sarah knew they had been married. It was possible she had broken the one rule a spy must never violate and fallen in love with Chuck. This still was not proof she could trust Chuck, he could have played her for those five years and he could still be playing her now that her memories were damaged and missing. Chuck was the Intersect. Who knew what he was capable of?

Then there was the shock of gunfire, the rounds from an assault rifle kicking up the sand near Sarah, but not Chuck. Chuck had grabbed her arm and pulled her to her feet. They had run, zig-zaging to make themselves difficult targets to hit. Chuck had led her to his car and they had fled. Sarah had never seen a single enemy, a single sniper. Chuck had driven for hours until they arrived at the safe house.

They had been sitting ducks on the beach. A pro would have taken the both out with two rounds. Head shots, one each, with a well-sighted sniper rifle would have been easy for any moderately good sniper.

Something was wrong. It seemed like a set up, a ploy to get her to go with Chuck, to trust him. It was something Agent Walker had done herself too many times to count.

Sarah looked back out at the ocean, letting the breeze blow her hair. For now, she had no real choice, so long as she was at this safe house. She had one pistol and three knives. No cash, no car of her own and no papers to run on. This had to change.

Sarah stood up and brushed the sand the wind had blown on her off her clothes. Agent Walker checked her weapons and went inside.


	4. Chapter 4 - Ambush

**Chapter Four - Ambush**

Sarah entered the house, shutting the door to the beach behind her. Chuck entered the living room carrying his laptop. All of their possessions had been packed and moved to the front door.

"I've packed everything but the perimeter warning sensors," Chuck told her. "We need to talk about a plan. We'll need to move soon."

"Yes, we do need to talk," Sarah replied coolly. Chuck immediately sensed a change in Sarah. She was colder than normal, even colder than when Chuck first met Sarah, when she was still more Agent Walker than anything else. Something was wrong. Sarah was alert. Clear. Focused. Chuck sensed danger.

 _She's different. Something has changed and I don't like it. I've got to get her out of here. I've got to move her to a place where she can feel safe, protected. A place where I can gain her trust again, help her to work through her defenses again, help her to be Sarah again._ Chuck knew they had to leave. Soon.

Chuck looked at Sarah and began speaking, "Sarah, we need to move to a new safe house. I had to wait for Morgan to leave work last night to talk to him. He is going to contact Gertrude and Ellie to warn them. As soon as Gertrude can get in touch with Casey I've asked the return and help us. All of us are in danger until we know who is behind this, who is trying to kill us."

"Do you have money? Papers?" Sarah asked Chuck.

"Yes. I told you last night," he replied.

"What's keeping us then," Sarah asked.

"Nothing, I suppose. Let me collect the perimeter sensors and we'll go. The next safe house is in the mountains. It's located on a ridge and is difficult spot from any approach but allows for a good view of all approaches. If we leave soon we'll arrive after nightfall," Chuck explained.

Sarah nodded in agreement. "I'll cover you while you collect the sensors, then we'll leave.

Chuck exited the front door while Sarah took position by a window. In minutes he had finished his task, come inside and stored the sensors. Chuck picked up as much of their possessions as possible, leaving his right hand free to carry his tranq pistol. Sarah picked up the rest of their gear, drew her pistol and looked at Chuck before asking, "where's the car?"

"I'll lead. It's hidden. You watch our backs." Chuck looked at Sarah. She simply accepted his instructions, showing no sign of emotion. "Ok, let's go Sarah."

Chuck left the house and took the lead. Sarah followed about ten feet behind. She was hyperaware of everything around her. She felt the damp breeze from the ocean. She could smell the odors of the ocean, the beach and the sandy ground leading to the stunted trees a short distance away. The only sound was of the ocean as its waves gently washed ashore on the beach behind the house.

Chuck moved cautiously in a crouch, moving slowly, watching for any sign of danger. Within moments they reached the treeline, entering the forest. Chuck moved carefully through the underbrush, making sure not to step on anything that could make sound, giving away their location. Sarah moved behind, equally careful, maintaining a constant watch on their rear, making sure they were not followed.

They crossed a small, low ridge and began to move down it, towards the road that led to the beach and the parking area. Chuck stopped and listened, searching for any sign something was amiss. Sarah visually swept the area 360 degrees. It seemed they were alone, safe.

Chuck motioned for her to stay and moved quickly to a thick patch of trees. Chuck moved quickly upon reaching the copse of trees, uncovering a black sedan that Sarah did not recognize. Maybe Chuck has a clue Agent Walker thought to herself. Plain car that is easy to forget.

No sooner did she finish the thought than gunfire erupted, tracer fire lighting up the area as the trees around her exploded from impacts, showering her with splinters. She felt sharp stings in her back and hamstrings as the splinters tore into her skin. Sarah immediately took cover, seeking the exact location the gunfire came from. Spotting two men moving in her direction, Sarah took aim and waited as they approached. When she was sure they were in range, she squeezed off two rounds and watched as both targets heads exploded, raining a pink mist into the air.

Agent Walker's training kicked in and she went on automatic. Fire and evade. Fire and evade. She moved away from the car, moving up the ridgeline, flanking the location where the suppressing fire came from. The killers had lost sight of her. Sarah moved until she was at right angles to the two gunners, both armed with AK-47s. She moved closer, decreasing the range. Again, two carefully aimed shots resulted in the deaths of the killers.

Quickly, she relocated again. Gunfire below her caught her attention as bullets zipped by her. Three gunmen this time. Sarah moved back in the direction she had come from, moving counter-clockwise to flank the new threat again. She moved down form the ridge and crawled into the drainage ditch by the road. Slowly she moved toward the position where the three assassins had been firing. Silence. The killers were visually scanning for her, not realizing she was approaching on their left flank in the ditch.

Sarah stood and took aim. Her first two shots dropped two of the killers. The third turned and fled up the ridge. She pursued, firing and hitting the killer in the arm. Wanting to capture an attacker alive to gain intel, she fired at the fleeing killer's leg, striking him directly behind the kneecap, exploding the killer's knee joint. She approached slowly, her pistol held at the ready, quickly scanning the area for other possible killers.

As she approached, the killer did something unexpected. He pulled a pistol but did not aim it at Agent Walker, he put the barrel in his mouth and pulled the trigger. She knelt quickly to search the body for papers or any intel, finding none. Quickly she moved to search all of the other bodies, finding nothing.

Time to leave. There was nothing that could be done about cleaning the site. Sarah quickly moved to the car, searching for signs of Chuck. There had been no gunfire coming from the area of the car.

What happened? There were no round fired at Chuck! Did he lead me into an ambush? Sarah felt a sudden wave of nausea combined with fear and uncertainty. "Nooooooooo!" she screamed. Just as fast as the fear and confusion set in, Agent Walker emerged, taking control, raising the pistol and beginning the search for Chuck.

Moving slowly towards the car she began to circle it counter-clockwise. As she moved she stepped on something round, similar to a log and stumbled ever so briefly. Looking down she saw the leg of a man dressed in black like the other killers, a tranq dart in his leg. With no hesitation Sarah pulled her combat knife and slit the killer's throat, whipping the bloody blade on the man's pants.

She continued moving in the same direction when she saw the body of another killer dressed in black. Like the first one, a tranq dart protruded from his throat. Walker dispatched the killer silently with her blade, again cleaning it on the killer's pants.

Movement in the brush caught her eye and she quickly aimed her pistol. "Sarah, it's me, Chuck."

Sarah moved to create a clear line of site. She looked down the barrel of her pistol, aiming right between Chuck's eyes. "Give me one reason not to kill you Chuck. One reason that I can believe," Walker said.

Chuck lay on his back, his right leg caught between a large rock and a fallen tree, his ankle obviously injured. Chuck looked Sarah straight in her eyes, his hands before him in an obvious posture of helplessness.

"Sarah, I would never hurt you. I am unarmed. I've dropped my tranq gun. Trust me," Chuck said.

"Right!" Sarah laughed, "you walked me into an ambush. So long, Chuck!"

A calm look appeared on Chuck's face. Accepting his fate. "Sarah, think before you do this. I won't fight you. I won't hurt you. But if you kill me in cold blood, this will haunt you the rest of your life. Not for my sake, but for yours, don't do this."

Walker began to slowly squeeze the trigger, to fire the bullet that would end Chuck's life, end the torment in her mind, her soul. As she squeezed, the flash of light came, blinding her. The pain in her head, her mind was agonizing, soul destroying in its intensity. She dropped her gun, clasping both hands to her head. Nausea filled her stomach, causing her to drop to her knees and vomit violently.

She collapsed on her side, screaming in agony as images flashed before her eyes. She saw Chuck leaving the train station in Prague, abandoning her like every other man in her life. Seconds later she saw Chuck pointing his pistol at the mole on the ground in the freight yards of Los Angeles. She heard the shot ring out and saw the mole collapse on the ground, dead. In that instant she knew Chuck had passed his Red Test. The man Sarah loved, was dead. Chuck had become a killer, someone Sarah could not trust. Wailing in agony, both physical and emotional, Sarah rolled on her back, covering her eyes, trying to stop the images playing in her mind.

She was standing on a bridge in Paris with a man she thought might be able to love her, a man who was a spy, like her. Daniel Shaw. Sarah saw Chuck point his gun and fire, three times, hitting Shaw in this chest. Blood splattered on Sarah as Shaw fell over the side of the bridge, cling to her arm, clinging for life before he fell to the river, fell to his death.

Sarah screamed in the realization she could not trust her husband. She could not trust the killer named Chuck, the man who had betrayed her, left her like all the others, and killed the one man who might have loved her.

"Just kill me. Put me out of my misery," Sarah screamed, curling into the fetal position, covered in her own vomit, her hands and arms wrapped around her head and face, rocking on her side.

Chuck dislodged his injured leg and crawled to Sarah, his heart filled with terror at what he was witnessing. His angel, his angel Sarah was in agony and she thought he was going to kill her.

Chuck crawled to the car and looked in the weeds for his tranq pistol. Finding it he crawled to Sarah and slowly leveled his tranq gun, aiming at Sarah's arm and pulled the trigger.


	5. Chapter 5 - To the Mountains

**Chapter 5 – To The Mountains**

 **Disclaimer:** I don't own Chuck

To all the readers who have read the story up to this point, I would like to thank you. Those of you who have reviewed the story or messaged me about issues in the story, I appreciate it a great deal. This is a learning experience and a lot of fun. I hope everyone is enjoying the storyline so far. It is a pretty radical departure from the normal Chuck story arc, much more serious and dark, but I hope believable.

Sarah is by far my favorite character, followed by Casey. These two characters are much more complex than Chuck with Sarah being the most complex of all. That doesn't mean I don't like Chuck. Chuck is the redeemer of the lost in many ways. Not to mention Chuck is just a good hearted man despite his quirks and flaws. Sarah benefitted from Chuck's eventual unconditional love, just as Chuck benefitted from all the effort Sarah invested in building up Chuck's confidence. The two of them made each other complete, which is how a partnership like marriage should work.

As the series progressed, Sarah seemed to become a bit more domesticated, which was certainly true. That said, I believe she lost none of the strength of Agent Walker Nor did she ever lose the fear and insecurity of Jenny. The security of Chuck's unconditional love allowed her to develop trust, in bits and pieces, and Sarah chose to become Sarah Bartowski, the woman she was meant to be.

I think the reason fans reacted so negatively to the series finale was Sarah had suffered so much and she and Chuck had overcome a so many personal issues that it was an injustice to lose who she was, who she had become, Sarah Bartowski.

One of the themes I hope becomes evident in future chapters is man should not mess with things he did not create. The Intersect is far more dangerous than it is useful.

Another theme that ran through the series was expressed in the Huey Lewis and the News song "the Power of Love." The entire extended family and Team Bartowski was dysfunctional in so many ways. Yet, the love the group extended to all the members made the extended family a force to be reckoned with and helped each individual to become more than what they had been before. Would Casey have become a loving father to Alex with Chuck nudging him to try and Morgan nagging him into submission to do?

Well, enough of that. Back to the story.

 **In the car…**

Chuck looked over at Sarah, still unconscious in the passenger seat. His thoughts were filled with worry and anxiety. Fatigue was beginning to cause him to lose control mentally. Chuck felt himself about to start a mental spiral that would end in him collapsing in fear, unable to function physically.

Ahead a light shone over a parking lot of a small strip mall. Empty of cars Chuck decided he had to stop and rest mentally to prevent the spiral from taking over. He pulled into the shadows and turned the car to face the exit, allowing a quick getaway if necessary. Killing the engine, Chuck returned his attention to the unconscious Sarah.

His heart broke as he looked at her, arms duct taped to her body. Her knees and ankles taped together. It hurt him to have to truss his wife up in this manner, but the Sarah laying in the reclined passenger seat was the cold blooded CIA enforcer, not the loving Sarah Bartowski or the frightened, insecure Jenny. The restraints were necessary, for both of them to be safe. The seat belt harness further restrained Sarah, giving Chuck the impression she was a dangerous prisoner being transported.

His ankle, swollen and throbbing, was severely injured. Chuck knew the injury was more severe than the ankle injury he had sustained escaping during a mission with the MI-6 Agent Barker Cole. Having to drive with a damaged right ankle had made the trip even more tiring. Having a dangerous Sarah, his Sarah, who was not in her right mind made the situation even more worrisome and tiring for Chuck.

He reached over to brush his angel's golden hair from her face and was alarmed to feel her the heat radiating from her forehead. The Intersect! Sarah still had the Intersect functioning in her mind. Panic set in immediately as Chuck began to squirm in his seat.

In response to his sudden anxiety, Chuck unbuckled his seat belt harness and got out of the car. A wave of shooting, electric pain raced up his leg from his ankle to his hip, causing Chuck to stumble and nearly fall.

Regaining his balance, Chuck began to shuffle about in a small circle behind the car in the shadows, muttering to himself while gesturing with his hands. "Something's wrong with Sarah. She has a fever. She's burning up. We're taking too long to get to the safe house. I need help. I need help. Sarah and Casey always knew what to do. Ellie would know what to do. I need help. What do I do?" Chuck whispered.

"I'm spiraling. I'm spiraling. Casey would grunt and threaten me. Sarah would bluntly tell me to stop. Morgan would listen. Morgan would listen. I've got to stop. Got to stop for Sarah. Get control Chuck. Get control. You're the Intersect. Sarah needs you." Chuck silenced himself and leaned over, his hands on his knees, taking deep, slow breaths.

Chuck stood up and looked into the sky. A falling star raced across the sky and Chuck wandered if it was a meteorite of the U.S. Air Force bouncing a missile satellite of the atmosphere and burning it up. The thought brought back a happy memory about the night he became the first to reach the kill screen on Missile Command and learned Sarah and Casey had convinced Stanford to grant him his degree in electrical engineering. Sarah had encouraged him to make a wish on the burning satellite. That wish had come true. His blonde angel was now his wife. Chuck looked intently at the falling star before speaking softly, "God, you granted me my first wish, please, let me help my wife Sarah. Don't take her from me, please."

The throbbing pain in his ankle brought Chuck back to the parking lot. His mind cleared by the pain and the sight of the falling star, he began to formulate his immediate plan. _I've got to get Sarah's temperature down. Ice. Get Ice. Wait, the Governor. If it is the Intersect causing this, she needs a Governor!_

Hobbling quickly to the passenger side of the car, Chuck opened the rear door and pulled out his backpack. He searched the small pouch on the back, pulling out a watch-like device, the Governor, and adjusted the watchband so it would fit Sarah's slender wrist.

"Here baby. Here. This will help. Sarah, the Intersect in your brain isn't gone. It's what is killing you, changing you. Hang on Sarah. I'll get help. Ellie will know how to help you. I just have to keep you safe till I can get Ellie. Hang on Sarah," Chuck pleaded.

Chuck shut the car door and limped back to the driver's side, sliding into the seat. He buckled himself back in and closed the door. He reached over to feel Sarah's forehead again, feeling the heat radiating from her. Starting the engine, he put it in gear and quickly left the parking lot, continuing their journey into the mountains.

 **Two hours later…**

Chuck needed to stop. He was reaching the end of his endurance. They needed gas. In the distance he saw the lights of a convenience store. He could get gas, ice and something with caffeine.

Pulling into the store's parking lot a quick scan reviewed no other customers were present and the lone employee was moping the floor. Chuck pulled up to the gas pump and reached underneath his seat, retrieving his tranq pistol. He stuffed it into his belt behind his back and pulled his shirt and jacket down over it. He reached over and stroked Sarah's forehead, still burning with fever. Reaching over her, he gently lifted her wrist high enough to remove the Governor.

"I'm sorry Sarah. I have to leave you here by yourself for just a few minutes. " Chuck whispered. "I'll be right back. I'm going to pay for gas and ice and get some water and energy drinks. Just rest Sweetie. Just rest."

Chuck reached into the back seat and retrieved one of the blankets he had stored there. Opening the blanket up, he covered Sarah, giving her the appearance of sleeping in peace while her husband drove on their long trip.

Chuck hurried inside. The storekeeper looked up and stared at Chuck. Chuck waved before speaking, "just need some gas and a lot of ice." He walked to the cooler in back and selected several bottles of water and two energy drinks.

When he returned to the register the clerk was waiting. Chuck paid for the items and a tank of gas in cash, waited for his change, went outside to the ice bin. He took out the four bags he had purchased and then walked slowly back to the car, watching for any sign of movement or trouble. He started the gas pump and placed the bags of ice in the back seat. When the gas pump clicked off he put the hose back, got back in the car and slowly drove to the edge of the parking lot.

Chuck opened a bottle of water and reached under Sarah's head, gentle raising it. He moved the bottle to her lips and tilted it just enough for water to trickle into her mouth. Sarah sputtered on the water at first but then began to swallow. Chuck spent several minutes providing Sarah with water. He managed to get half a bottle down her and poured a little on his fingers. He ran his damp fingers across her dry, hot forehead.

She felt a little cooler. Chuck reached for his backpack in the back seat and set it in his lap. Opening it he fished for the box of zip-lock bags. He took out two and returned the backpack to the back seat. Opening one of the bags of ice, he filled the two sandwich bags and zipped them shut, then closed the bag of ice.

Chuck placed the two bags of ice on either side of Sarah's head. "Sweetie, these will help. It will be OK. We're almost there. I love you Sweetie, never forget that," he whispered to her.

The road began to climb faster and the turns became sharper, forcing Chuck to drive slower and with more caution. Feeling the need to touch Sarah, Chuck reached over and placed his hand on his wife's arm, gently rubbing his fingers on the blanket that covered her.

He opened an energy drink and began sipping from it when he heard Sarah softly murmuring to herself, her head slowly, gently moving from side to side. "Why did Daddy leave me? Why? What did I do wrong?" she whispered. "Why are the kids at school so mean to me? I just want to fit in. I just want to fit in. No, please, no. Take me home."

Chuck's mouth dropped open in sudden realization. _That's not Agent Walker talking. That's Jenny._ Just as suddenly as Sarah had begun murmuring she stopped and lay still again.

As the miles passed by, Chuck struggled to stay awake and focused despite the caffeine from the energy drink. He constantly reached over to touch Sarah, to try to comfort himself as much as her. "Hang on Sweetie. Just a little while longer," he whispered.

Just as suddenly as Sarah had stopped tossing and muttering the first time, she suddenly started again. "I hate you Chuck! I was going to run with you. But no, you had to become a spy! Why? Why Chuck? I was going to give it all up. Give up being an agent. For you Chuck. Why? I love you! I trusted you! But you're like all the rest of the men in my life. You abandoned me when I needed to be able to trust you. You withheld your love when I needed it most. You just used me so you could get what you wanted. I hate you!" Tears began to stream from Sarah's eyes. Her body had gone completely rigid, straining against the makeshift duct tape restraints and the safety harness. For a second time, just as quickly as the first episode stopped, Sarah fell silent and her body went limp. A quick touch to her forehead revealed Sarah's temperature was climbing again.

 _Be calm. Be calm. No spiraling. Don't panic Chuck. You're almost to the safe house. Keep Sarah safe. Keep Sarah safe._ Chuck struggled to control his thoughts, to remain control of the car. _Be Charles Carmichael. Be Charles Carmichael. Protect your wife Chuck!_

Within minutes Chuck reached the turnoff from the main road. He slowed and turned left onto the winding side road that would lead to the new safe house. He glanced at Sarah and promised her," soon now Sweetie. We'll be there soon."

A half-hour passed when Chuck finally saw the brush covered approach to the small cluster of trees that surrounded the safe house. He stopped the care and reached once again for his backpack. He pulled out night vision binoculars and scanned the surrounding countryside. He saw no heat signatures, no signs of movement. They had made it. He drove the final half-mile to the house, stopping in front of the garage door. He quickly got out and raised the door, returned, drove the car inside and killed the engine.

"We're here Sarah! We're here!" he told her. He quickly got out of the car and hobbled to the workbench in the garage. He searched for and found the hidden key and limped over to the door leading to the house. After unlocking the door he pocked the key and limped back to the sedan, moving to the passenger side of the car. Opening the door, he reached in and unbuckled Sarah, tossed aside the blanket and plastic bags now filled with water from the melted ice and slid Sarah out, lifting her with difficulty in his arms and limped again to the door, the pain in his ankle becoming almost unbearable.

He pushed the door open with his shoulder and hobbled as quickly as he could to the couch where he laid his angel down. "I'll be back. I have to get the perimeter set up so we're safe, then a bath to cool you down. It'll be all right. I promise" he told her.

 **Thirty minutes later…**

Chuck had finished setting up the perimeter warning system and his laptop was set up to warn him if any threat should approach. He was nearing the point of complete exhaustion. He had emptied the car of all of their belongings and what was left of the ice had been dumped into the bathtub. Chuck ran cool water into the tub, filling the tub to the halfway point with the mixture of ice and water.

He hobbled back to the living room and gently lifted Sarah in his arms once more and carried her to the bathroom, laying her prone on the floor. He took his tranq pistol out of his belt and set it on top of the toilet tank, within easy reach. Gently he removed the duct tape shackles.

Sighing, Chuck unbuttoned Sarah's blouse and carefully removed it from her, setting it on the bathroom lavatory. He pulled her black high-heeled boots off and sat them by the door. Gently he unbuckled her belt, then her black, form fitting jeans and unzipped them. Slowly he pulled her pants down, folding them and setting them by her boots. Leaving her underwear on, Chuck gently lifted Sarah and slowly placed her in the chilled water before sitting on the toilet seat to begin his vigil over her.

In two hours a secure communication satellite would pass over the safe house and he would be able to contact Ellie via the secure phone in the safe house. Ellie would know what was wrong with Sarah. Ellie, his big sister, would know what to do.

Struggling to stay awake, Chuck focused on Sarah, occasionally reaching over to feel her forehead. Her temperature seemed to have come down a little, but she was still too warm. Sarah's body began to tense yet again and once again she began to murmur. "Chuck, I have a list of boys names. I want to be a mother, just not right now. Chuck, who would of thought? Superspy Sarah Walker would be the mother of a nerd's children?"

Chuck sat upright, suddenly wide-awake. "Sarah? Sarah? I'm right here Sweetie. I'm right here!" Just as before, as quickly as Sarah's current episode passed her body relaxed.

 _That was Sarah. My Sarah. My wife. It wasn't Jenny. It wasn't Agent Walker. It wasn't Sarah my girlfriend. It was my wife. She's still there!_ Chuck was filled with hope and despair at the same time. _How could this happen to my wife? How could this happen to Sarah? She's been through so much. She's done so much for so many other people. This just isn't right._

 _Think Chuck. Think. Remember everything. You have to remember everything. Ellie will need to know as much as possible. Everything that is Sarah is still in there. She's been Jenny. She's been Sarah my wife, Sarah my girlfriend._ Chuck shivered at the memory of his Sarah pointing her pistol at him and beginning to squeeze the trigger. _She's been Agent Walker the enforcer too._

 _It's like she's delirious from a virus._ Just like that it hit Chuck. _Her Intersect isn't just faulty! It's a computer virus or at least it might have a virus. That's got to be it. Ellie can fix this!_

Chuck ran to the living room to get the com device and quickly returned to the bathroom, resuming his vigil over Sarah. Finally, the satellite was in position and the signal to the com device appeared to be strong.

Hurriedly Chuck typed in the code to the matching device he had given to Ellie and Awesome they had moved to Chicago. "Please be there, please be there," Chuck said to himself.

"Chuck, is that you?" a worried sounding Ellie said into the com device.

"Yeah, Sis, it's me. I don't have time to explain but Sarah needs your help," Chuck said quickly.

"Chuck, the moving van just got here. We have to unpack and move in to our apartment. Can Sarah wait a few days?" Ellie asked.

"Ellie, we're on the run. We're in a safe house in the mountains. Something has happened to Sarah. She still has an Intersect in her brain but I think it has a computer virus. Her temp is sky high. It's gotten better since I put a Governor on her and gave her an ice bath," Chuck informed Ellie.

"Sis, there's more. It's like she has different personalities. I recognize them all. She's been Jenny, Agent Walker, Sarah my girlfriend and she's been Sarah my wife. She had an episode while we were under attack where she collapsed like she had a migraine and she vomited all over herself. I had to tranq her. Sarah hasn't regained consciousness yet, but she's been talking to herself, some times I can hear what she says. Ellie, please, I think she may be dying. Please!" Chuck pleaded.

"You're right Chuck. This is serious. But it could also be good. Can you safely travel to Castle? I'll need Dad's computer and new medical facilities there. Mom's here so she can watch Clara. I'll bring Devon and we'll be waiting for you when you arrive at Castle. Ok, Chuck? Are you listening Chuck?" Ellie asked.

"Yes, Ellie. Tell me what to do so I can care for Sarah. So I can protect her health. Tell me and I'll do it," Chuck told his sister.

"Get a pad Chuck. Write down everything I am going to tell you" Ellie ordered.

 **Three hours later…**

Chuck had been simply too exhausted to turn around and leave for the Burbank Buy More, the site of Carmichael Industries hidden base Castle. It would be unsafe for both Sarah and him. Sarah's temperature had dropped significantly after the ice bath and perhaps the Governor was helping as well.

Chuck had dried Sarah off and carried her to the bedroom. He took her underwear off and dressed her in one of his t-shirts and his stormtrooper boxers he found in her suitcase. Chuck took his shoes off but remained dressed, his ankle throbbing. He took several pillows he found in the closet and stacked them at the end of the bed on his side of the bed. He tucked Sarah in on her side of the bed and went to retrieve his laptop. He set it up on his bedside table so he could hear any alarm from the perimeter security monitors and set his tranq pistol next to it.

Slowly he climbed in bed and lifted his swollen ankle, resting it on the pillows. He pulled the blankets over the rest of himself. Chuck let his eyes close. He tried to clear his thoughts so he could fall asleep, get some much needed rest so he could protect Sarah from what lay ahead. So he could keep Sarah safe like she had done so many times for him.

Just as Chuck was about to drift off to sleep he felt a soft blow on his shoulder. Startled, Chuck raised his head quickly and looked at Sarah who had raised herself on her elbow and was frowning at him. "Chuck, quit moving. I can't get comfortable," she said with a pout before moving over to rest her head on his left shoulder. Her still damp hair fell about his shoulder and tickled his face. He felt Sarah wiggle as she nestled against him, seeking comfort and warmth. She placed her left hand on his chest and within seconds Sarah was asleep, breathing gently and in peace.

Chuck reached with his right hand, lacing his fingers between those of her left hand like they so often did when they held hands or slept holding each other. Chuck smiled. _At least for this moment, right now, I have my wife back_ , he thought as he peacefully drifted to sleep.


	6. Chapter 6 - The Calvary Arrives

**Chapter Six – The Calvary Arrives**

 **Disclaimer:** Sadly, I don't own Chuck.

Sarah and Chuck walked from their mailbox, holding hands. Sarah rested her left hand on her swollen abdomen and leaned back slightly to try to become more comfortable. Letting go of Sarah's hand Chuck went through the mail, muttering out loud, "bill, bill, bill, junk mail, junk mail, Comic Con newsletter, read that first, bill, junk mail."

Sarah pushed Chuck gently, laughing, "you are such a nerd."

"Comic Con is about a month after the baby will be here. We'll have to start thinking about costumes now," Chuck informed her.

Smiling at how beautiful his expectant wife was, Chuck climbed the steps to the front door of their home and opened the red door, moving aside to let Sarah enter first.

Chuck suddenly opened his eyes, the dream vanishing in a flash. The laptop was emitting a low-pitched beeping sound. The perimeter had been breached. His heart suddenly racing, Chuck let go of Sarah's hand and slowly removed his body from under hers, laying her gently on the bed. Sarah moaned in protest but did not wake up, instead she squirmed for a moment and lay still.

Chuck picked up his tranq gun and the com device and silently moved towards the living room. Before he could reach a window the com device vibrated. Chuck looked down and read a text message.

"Bogies surround the safe house. Casey is in position. Approaching from the North. ETA five minutes. Do not, repeat, do not exit facility. Be ready to depart upon arrival. Verbanski."

In an instant Chuck hobbled to the bedroom. "Wake up Sarah, wake up!" he whispered, gently shaking his wife.

Suddenly Sarah sat bolt up right. Her hand quickly reached under her pillow to Chuck's horror. _She's Agent Walker, searching for a knife._

Sarah, Casey and Verbanski are here to extract us. Be calm. The safe house is surrounded. You've been unconscious since we were attacked at the beach safe house. We've got to pack and go. Verbanski will be here in minutes and we've got to be ready to go," he told her firmly but quietly.

Agent Walker looked squarely at Chuck. Her mouth shaped in a cross between a pout and being angry, her brow was furrowed in a scowl. I've seen that expression before Chuck thought. Sarah said one word, "no." Chuck simply raised his tranq pistol and shot her in the chest. "No sense in arguing with Sarah when she's like that," Chuck muttered before adding "I wonder it a tranq pistol is the way to go to settle marital disputes? Probably not."

Chuck quickly secured everything and moved it all to the center of the living room. He returned to the bedroom, put his shoes on and hoisted Sarah over his shoulder, hobbling back to the living room. Upon his return Verbanski was shouldering his backpack. She was dressed in black and wearing body armor, her assault rifle held at the ready position. She said nothing, noting Chuck was carrying an unconscious Sarah.

Verbanski motioned for Chuck to move to the front door. She took position by the door and removed a pair of grenades from her tactical harness. One was a flash bang and the other was a fragmentary grenade. She handed the frag to Chuck and held up three fingers. He looked back at the remainder of their possessions and Sarah's suitcase. Verbanski shook her head no. They would have to leave the rest.

Chuck held up his hand and struggled over to Sarah's suitcase. He opened it and reached into the side pocket and pulled out the box containing the charm bracelet. He stuffed it into his pants pocket and hobbled back. Chuck nodded that he was ready.

Verbanski and Chuck each pulled the pin on their respective grenades and held the safety levers down. Gertrude put one hand on the doorknob and slowly turned it until the bolt was disengaged. With her other hand she counted down from three, two, one and yanked the door open, throwing the flash bang grenade out the door. Chuck followed suit, tossing the frag grenade slightly further. Verbanski slammed the door shut and leaned against the door.

Two extremely loud explosions took place, nearly deafening the conscious pair. Verbanski pointed to herself to indicate she would take lead and Chuck nodded acknowledging her. She brought her assault rifle up into a firing position and Chuck released the safety on his tranq pistol and worked the action.

Verbanski threw the door open and charged through, her assault rifle firing in three round bursts. She sprayed the immediate area and screams of agony could be heard. Chuck followed just steps behind her, the fog from the flash bang making it difficult to see at any distance beyond.

Chuck followed the black form of Verbanski, struggling to move quickly and maintain his balance with his bad ankle as he carried Sarah who was dead weight. As they moved through the trees Chuck saw two would be killers dressed in black tactical gear, their faces, arms and legs covered in wounds from the fragmentary grenade he had tossed. Both were still alive and moving. Taking no chances he fired a tranq dart into each, knocking them out.

Verbanski stopped and pointed. There was a trail through the mountain brush, running down a gully. She pointed at Chuck and then herself. Chuck nodded and took the lead, moving as quickly as he could with his bad ankle and the weight of Sarah. Verbanski turned and took cover behind a medium sized boulder and visually searched for any additional attackers.

Chuck made it to the gully and began making his way down it. He turned to look for Verbanski who was walking in a crouch towards the gully, assault rifle at the ready. A sudden piercing sound passed over his head and Chuck thought he saw air move horizontally by Verbanski. A split second later a pink mist appeared some thirty yards away behind a boulder. Verbanski's face broke into a huge smile, filled with pride as she ran past Chuck, stopping only long enough to whisper in Chuck's ear, "isn't John just the greatest."

Chuck smiled to himself as shifted Sarah's body weight. _Yes, he is_. He chuckled to himself as he hurried after Verbanski. _My how I have changed since meeting Casey and Sarah. Who would of thought I would admire a man with REAL sniping skills, not just Call of Duty_ _sniping skills._

Chuck came to a sudden stop as he saw Verbanski drop to the ground in a prone firing position. She snapped off three round bursts till her clip ran empty. She quickly reloaded and waited. Suddenly two black clad killers charged the gully, one on each side. Verbanski took aim at the attacker on her right, placing three rounds center mass. The head of the other attacker exploded. Casey again thought Chuck.

Verbanski looked back to make sure Chuck was ready to advance again before standing. Suddenly gunfire erupted and she fell, clutching her chest. Chuck quickly put Sarah on the ground and ran to Gertrude, pulling her out of the line of fire. She hit his hand and frowned at him, pointing at the hole in her tactical gear. She was wearing a vest. Chuck realized she was more embarrassed about revealing their position than taking a round. Chuck nodded and picked up Sarah again.

Shaking her head to clear it, Verbanski again began moving down the gully, keeping close to the right hand side. She detached three frag grenades from her tactical web and handed one to Chuck. Once again she held up three fingers. She counted down and they each threw a frag grenade. After the dirt and debris from the first two grenades landed Chuck could hear the screams of wounded men. Verbanski pulled the pin of her second grenade and tossed it. After the explosion there was only silence.

She nodded at Chuck and took off down the gully. They moved as quickly as Chuck could with his bad ankle and the burden of carrying Sarah. They soon reached the end of the gully that had given way to an open space. Thirty yards away was a thick patch of brush and trees. Verbanski pointed. Chuck nodded his understanding. Transport was hidden just thirty yards away.

Gunfire erupted again, this time from either side of the gully, effectively pinning them down in a crossfire. Out of grenades, Verbanski shoved Chuck behind cover, followed him and began firing in the direction of the gunfire coming from their left.

Just as suddenly as the gunfire had erupted, it began to peter out. Chuck saw two assailants jump from behind cover only to be slammed violently to the ground, almost as if an invisible fly swatter had struck them. Verbanski moved forward, firing to her right, pausing to motion for Chuck to follow. The gunfire had completely died down. All was silent.

They rushed across the open space and into the brush. The briars and brambles pulled at Chucks clothes, tearing small holes in his pants and shirt, scratching Sarah's bare legs.

Verbanski reached the large black SUV first and opened a door in the back. She tossed the backpack into the loading area in the back and turned to face Chuck as he stumbled up. Other than her brief statement of pride regarding Casey's amazing marksmanship, she spoke the first words since the extraction had begun. "I'm sorry Chuck. We have to restrain Sarah."

"Don't apologize. You should have seen what I did to restrain her," Chuck whispered.

Verbanski quickly bound Sarah's hands and feet with plastic tie downs. Chuck carefully placed Sarah in the seat behind the passenger seat and fastened her safety harness. Chuck climbed in the passenger seat and belted himself while Verbanski started the engine and strapped herself in.

In the distance the sounds of lingering gunfire suddenly came to a halt. Verbanski gunned the engine, driving the big SUV on to the road, careening down the hillside. Suddenly in the distance an enormous man clad totally in black stepped into view at the side of the road, a large, black sniper rifle with a suppressor held in the ready position.

Verbanski swung the vehicle around to face the road going downhill, back to civilization while at the same time lowing the window. She pulled up to the giant who removed his balaclava, smiling.

"John, did you like your new rifle?" she asked lovingly as she gently touched the scar on the right side of Casey's face.

"Oh, it's sweet honey! Needs to be tweaked a little on the range, but its sweet!" Casey whispered to Verbanski before climbing into the back seat. Casey took a quick glance at Sarah and then Chuck. "Walker OK?" Chuck shrugged before telling Casey, "I don't know. Do you know who these people are?"

Casey frowned and grunted before answering. "No clue. Great equipment. Poorly trained. We took out 21 of them. Whoever this is, they have money and access to the best equipment. They'll get better. Learn from their mistakes. Train better."

Casey looked right at Chuck. "Bartowski, we can't screw this one up."


	7. Chapter 7 - Castle

**Chapter Seven – Castle**

 **Disclaimer:** Still don't own Chuck

For those who have been following the story and asking about the identity of the villains, yes, villains, please be patient. It will be worth your while. Thanks for suggestions to improve and the reviews.

 **24 Hours Later…**

Verbanski was driving slowly through the clogged traffic lanes of rush hour traffic in Burbank. She glanced at Casey, who had traded places with Chuck, and gently touched his left cheek. She smiled as the giant sitting next to her simply grunted in response as he constantly scanned in all directions, looking for any potential threat. She returned her complete attention to driving as the traffic began to move again.

Chuck was asleep in the seat behind Verbanski, leaning against the door. Sarah was awake and sitting upright. Still clad in the t-shirt Chuck had dressed her in, she now wore a pair of blue jeans but was still bare footed, her ankles, knees and wrists all bound by plastic ties. Her safety harness was pulled tight. Her expression was neither angry nor happy. Sarah appeared calm. Her hair, always carefully groomed and presented, was a mess, her face appeared slightly pale as she wore no makeup.

At the sound of Casey grunting to get Chuck's attention he woke up with a start, sitting upright and blinking. "ETA 30 minutes Bartowski," Casey informed him. Chuck nodded and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. He looked across at Sarah who had turned to gaze at him. Chuck smiled at her. Sarah did not smile back.

"How do you feel, Sweetie?" Chuck inquired.

Sarah looked at Chuck for a moment before replying. "I have a headache. My hair is a mess. I don't have my face on. I have scratches on my legs and the jeans are rubbing the scratches. I want to brush my teeth. I need to go to the bathroom and you've got me tied up. How do you think I fell, Chuck?"

"Point noted. Well, make that points noted actually," Chuck responded. Turning his attention to the surrounding as Verbansky drove. Like Casey, Chuck was now scanning for any threat to their vehicle.

"Chuck, while you were asleep Ellie contacted us. The entire family came. Devon, your mother and Clara are waiting for us at Castle. Morgan and Alex are there as well," Verbanski told him.

"I can't thank you enough for coming and saving us, again," Chuck humbly stated.

Gertrude eyed him through the rear view mirror before speaking. "Oh, your welcome, but you owe John and me a big debt. John was in the process of stalking me and the game was on. Your call for help interrupted our courtship Chuck. Dresden is so nice this time of winter."

Casey turned to look at Chuck. Scowling, he simply grunted his agreement with his displeasure over the interruption of the strange courtship ritual he and Verbanski loved so dearly.

"Of course, John got to use his new toy I gave him, so all was not lost Chuck. You know how he gets when he can't shoot at someone after a couple of weeks," she said with a smile.

Chuck shook his head, laughing to himself. _What a strange world I inhabit these days. Two of my closest friends think a modified sniper rifle is a romantic gift._

Verbanski approached the parking lot of the Buy More. She drove around the area twice as Casey and Chuck scanned for any threats. Sarah sat silently, keeping her observations to herself.

The black SUV pulled up to the Orange Orange which had closed early as instructed. Casey and Chuck quickly exited the vehicle and removed Sarah from the passenger seat. Without warning Casey lifted Sarah over his shoulder while Chuck hobbled in pain to unlock the Orange Orange door. Sarah, annoyed at being carried like a sack of potatoes vented her frustration by hitting Casey in the back as hard as she could repeatedly while he carried her.

Ducking to prevent from hitting the top of the doorframe with Sarah, Casey followed Chuck into the Orange Orange and the unceremoniously dumped Sarah on the floor while Chuck locked the doors and reactivated the security system. Casey stood over Sarah, grunted and said "enough of that Walker. There's limits." He moved to the hidden Castle entrance in the storeroom, leaving Chuck to pick up Sarah.

"Some friend he is," Sarah snarled as Chuck picked her up like a new husband carrying his bride across the threshold. Trying hard not to laugh, Chuck told Sarah, "actually, if it weren't for Casey, we wouldn't be married. And not because he's saved our lives dozens of times."

"Humph. I don't care," Sarah said. "He didn't need to dump me on the floor like that."

Chuck smiled. This Sarah might be fun to tease if their situation was not so serious at the moment. He entered Castle and looked at his pouting wife. "We're home. Sort of," he told her. Sarah looked away and said nothing.

Chuck carefully carried Sarah down the stairs and set her in a chair. "If you promise to not go Sarah Walker on me, I'll remove the restraints and you can go to the restroom and clean up as soon as Verbanski gets here to take you," he told her.

She looked up at him as if thinking of a truly sarcastic reply, the type she liked to verbally hurl at him when he annoyed her. Before Sarah could speak her body suddenly convulsed, causing her to become rigid and fall out of the chair, her long lean body suddenly looked like a pole on the ground. Sarah's face contorted in agony, her eyes squeezed shut, her already tangled hair looked like that of Medusa, moving on its own as if it were alive.

"Ellie! Ellie! Come quick! Sarah's collapsed!" Chuck screamed. He dropped to his knees and touched her forehead. _It was on fire. Ice. Get Ice. The Governor._ Chuck checked and found it was still on her slender wrist.

"Move Chuck. Devon, get the clinic ready. Casey, carry Sarah to the clinic. Now!" Ellie ordered. Devon had already left and Casey quickly but gently lifted Sarah and rushed to the Castle clinic. Verbanski took Chuck by the elbow and gently led him to the debriefing area.

"Sarah is a strong woman. She will survive this Chuck."

"I know Gertrude. This time. But how much more of this can Sarah take?" Chuck sobbed.

Morgan and Alex entered the debriefing area. Verbanski looked at Morgan with pleading eyes and mouthed the words "help. Lady feelings." Morgan shook his head at home much Casey and Gertrude were alike and said "I got this. Chuck, long time no see. Time for some Guitar Hero. I made some special modifications to our set-up. We can mess with Beckman now whenever she calls to check in you know." Morgan took his friend by the arm and led him over to where the game controls were set up so he could distract his best friend until the latest crisis had passed.

 **Five hours later…**

Sarah lay in the hospital bed in the state of the art clinic Chuck had installed in Castle when Carmichael Industries purchased the facility. She rested peacefully, monitors displaying all of her vital signs, indicating that at that moment, everything was normal.

Chuck was sitting in a seat next to her bed, holding Sarah's hand while she slept. He looked up as Ellie walked in and smiled a fragile smile. "Hi, sis."

Ellie leaned over and hugged her brother, kissing him on his head. "She's a strong woman Chuck. She has you to help her get through this too. All of us love her and that will make a difference."

"I just can't take much more Ellie," Chuck whispered.

Ellie took Chuck's face in her hands, turning him so he had to look her in the eyes before saying, "imagine how Sarah feels Chuck."

"You're right, Ellie. I have it easy compared to Sarah right now," Chuck said softly.

"Chuck, Sarah's ok at the moment. She had a memory come back with her last attack. She remembered you getting jealous about a British agent. It confused her and it upset her, which I think is actually good," Ellie said.

Puzzled, Chuck asked, "why? Why would that be good?"

"Because Sarah was Agent Walker when she had the memory, Chuck. She remembered being worried that you were jealous. Chuck, she remembered being worried about how YOU felt. Sarah FELT good emotions that she connected to you! Chuck, her Agent Walker personality knows she had real feelings for you and she felt them, even if just for a moment. It confused Sarah because she doesn't recall those emotions and her Agent Walker personality, as you described it to me, tries to protect Sarah from anything Walker views as a threat, including you. Now Agent Walker is not so sure you're a threat anymore Chuck," Ellie said with a broad smile.

"Ellie, this is scaring me. Is Sarah developing multiple personalities? Is there any way you can help her," Chuck implored.

"It's just a working theory Chuck, but I think your were correct in your assumption Sarah still has a functioning Intersect but with a virus. I think the virus is partitioning her mind in an effort to neutralize the Intersect without destroying it. The unfortunate side effect for Sarah is her memory loss and these horrible attacks she is having. Chuck, I think she has many of her memories of the past five years, including her emotional memories, but they are being shunted off into different quadrants of her brain, much like a hard drive is partitioned. The problem is, Sarah is having trouble reading her memories. Do you understand, Chuck?"

"Are you saying if we can remove the virus, Sarah will be OK," asked Chuck.

"That's what I'm saying, It's possible, but there might be complications. I have to do more scans and read Dad's notes again."

"How will you do it Ellie?"

"Oh Chuck, I really wish Dad was here. He would be able to help Sarah without any problem. At least I think he could," Ellie said quietly. "I so miss our father Chuck. I so miss our father."

"So do I Ellie, so do I," Chuck said as he hugged his sister.

"Chuck, time to look at that ankle. X-ray then cast. Let's go. You are not getting out of this," Ellie commanded.

 **The next morning…**

Sarah was awake and annoyed by the fact she was restrained in her bed. She had been allowed to take a shower, put her face on and comb out her hair, styling it in a simple ponytail. All of her scratches had been treated and bandaged. She was dressed in new clothes that fit her. Bored, Agent Walker was now busy hurling insults at Chuck who was equally busy hurling them back.

"You're a turd Chuck," she pronounced with great certainty.

"You sound certain about that Sarah. What gives you that idea?" Chuck replied as he read the latest issue of Batman.

"I agree Walker," Casey announced as he strolled in. "Castle is on permanent lockdown until I say otherwise. We need more intel before any of us venture out." With that brief statement, Casey simply grunted and left.

Her voice dripping with sarcasm, Sarah answered, "I have a new memory Chuck. Want to hear about what you did to me, Chuck? I think even you'll agree what you did was pretty lousy, Chuck." Sarah dragged his name out in length and emphasized the last two letters, further emphasizing her displeasure with him.

Chuck looked up from his comic and met Sarah's gaze. "Tell me then, Sarah. Why am I such a turd."

"I remembered I had made the decision to stop spying for the CIA. I was going to run, run with you. We were going to disappear and make a life together. You were in Prague, training. It was supposed to be just a cover till I could get together papers, identifies, cash, everything we would need to run. Chuck, I trusted you. I thought you loved me, that you wanted me. Me! Chuck I have a few more memories back as well. Would you like to hear them?" Sarah inquired sarcastically.

"Actually, yes," Chuck replied patiently.

"I know you know about Jenny," Walker said simply. "I know you were aware of her abandonment issues, of my abandonment issues. I trusted you Chuck. I trusted you enough to give up everything for you. I thought I was in love with you. But I was wrong. You weren't in love with me and you couldn't be trusted. When it was time to run, you wouldn't. You just left me at the train station in Prague. You abandoned me like everyone else I have ever trusted."

To her surprise Chuck did not react in anger. He simply looked at her with a patient expression. Slowly a smile spread across his face, infuriating her. "Oh, I see, you still think it's funny what you did to me? How you hurt me? Betrayed me," she yelled.

Chuck stood up and walked over to Sarah, wrapped his arms around her shoulders and hugged her tightly. She struggled to escape his grasp, even trying to bite him so he would release her.

"Whoa, girl," Chuck laughed. "Easy there."

"It's not funny," Walker hissed.

"Actually, Sarah, I'm thankful you remembered Prague. I want to tell you why I did what I did," Chuck said.

"You see, Sarah, I always felt so unworthy of you. You are so smart. You can do so many things I can't. You speak multiple languages fluently. You can kick a room full of people butts. I don't think there is a small arm you aren't proficient at. You're not as good as Casey, but then, who is? You are an amazing dancer. Let's not forget you could drive Formula One or NASCAR if you wanted. Oh, and to top it all off, you are a stunningly beautiful woman. You could have, can have, any man you want. In fact, you have had an impressive list of possible suitors since I have known you." Chuck paused to collect his thoughts.

"Sarah, I was really insecure. Bryce didn't help matters. I'm still a little insecure now that I don't have you telling me I'm your hero. You see Sarah, you're a woman a man like me, a lowly nerd, can only dream of. You're unobtainable. Sure, you fell in love with me. But you fell for Bryce to. When that relationship didn't work out you moved on. It just happened to be that I was the man you moved on too. I was so afraid you would get tired of me and move on again," Chuck explained.

"You are the best female spy the U.S. has. You loved being a spy. I knew about Jenny. Not everything but enough to know the CIA helped you gain your confidence. Gave you purpose. I knew you had issues. But, Sarah, so did I. I truly believed there was only one way I could have you. There was only one way I could keep you. That you would stay in love with me. I had to become a spy myself," Chuck said as he looked in Sarah's eyes, looking for any sign she understood what he was telling her.

"There's more too Sarah. You served the greater good as a spy. You and Casey do things that are horrible, that the rest of the people of this nation could never do, they don't have the courage or the skill. You save lives and keep people safe everyday you do your job. I can never, never, repay you for the times you have saved my life, Morgan's life or the lives of my family. You found my parents for Ellie and me. You taught me to believe in myself, to have confidence in myself. Sarah, nobody else, even Morgan, has done that for me. Only you," Chuck told her as tears began to seep from his eyes.

"The only way I could be worthy of a woman like you, to be loved by a woman like you, was to be a spy. That's what I thought. I didn't understand that you loved me unconditionally, like a wife is meant to love her husband. I didn't love you unconditionally myself until I realized that was how you loved me. You taught me that Sarah. But you had never told me you loved me. So I was filled with doubts, so many doubts. I just had to become a spy so I would be worthy of your love. By serving the great good like you, I would be protecting you, my friends, my family and my country. In doing so, I would eventually become worthy of you. Do you understand," Chuck implored.

"I don't believe you," Walker replied.

"Would you believe Carina?"

"What does Carina have to do with this, Chuck," Walker snapped.

Chuck left the clinic room and returned after a few minutes. He walked over to the computer in the clinic and turned the monitor so Sarah could view it with ease. He turned up the speakers and inserted a memory stick into the tower. He opened a video file and hit play and turned to face Sarah. The video was one Carina had given Sarah. It depicted Chuck explaining his decision at Prague while trapped in a vault. As the door opened Chuck declared his love for Sarah and collapsed from the effects of gas being pumped into the vault.

"Carina gave you that. She edited it out of the mark's surveillance system. It helped us a lot in our relationship at that stage. Things were pretty bad between us at that time. I didn't about things like a Red Test. I didn't understand why you were so dead set against me becoming a spy. But Carina helped you understand by giving you this video. Casey helped us both too, at different times, but that's kind of embarrassing and we can talk about that later." Chuck paused before asking, "still think I'm a turd? Have any more questions about Prague."

Walker looked away, silent. Chuck could not tell what she was thinking. He picked up his comic and told her, "I was sorry in the past that I hurt you in Prague. I am still sorry now. But know this Sarah, I loved you then and I still love you now."

Chuck turned and left the clinic. Walker turned to look at the door he had just exited. Her eyes were brimming with emotion as she fought back the tears, refusing to let herself cry, to give in to the powerful emotions welling up inside, confusing her.

 **That afternoon…**

Ellie's commanding voice boomed over the Castle intercom system, "I want all family members to report to the clinic. That means everyone in Castle. Now."

Within minutes the entire group was assembled. Waiting to see what Ellie had to say. Sarah had a far away look on her face, almost as if she were somewhere else entirely.

"Sarah, everyone. We all know Sarah has had her share of troubles recently, troubles she did not deserve. Sarah, you may not believe it or feel it, but every person in this room loves you, admires you and owes you in ways we can never repay you. That's why I have asked everyone to be here, so we can all support you in whatever decision you make. This may seem like it is nobody's business but your own, but that's not entirely true. The choice you make, the choice you must make, will affect everyone in this clinic, not just you. But Sarah, whatever choice you do make, I know everyone here, most of all Chuck, will support you," Ellie passionately stated for all present to hear.

Sarah slowly looked from face to face of the people gathered in the clinic. She said nothing.

Ellie looked at Sarah and began to speak, telling everyone "Sarah, there is no easy way to say this, so I will be direct. You have an Intersect in your brain. You know that. What you might not know, is I have been able to determine the Intersect is fine. The problem is the Intersect you uploaded has a virus in it. If something is not done, and done soon, one of these attacks you have been having will either kill you or leave you in a vegetative state."

Ellie paused before continuing, "Here are your options, all of them have risks. Do nothing and you'll die and it won't be a pleasant death. I can remove the Intersect, but if I do that, you'll definitely lose all of your memories of the past five years, the five years you have known Chuck and our family, our friends. You will lose the memories of what has happened since Quinn did this to you. Do you understand Sarah," Ellie asked, pausing for Sarah to acknowledge what Ellie had just said.

Sarah looked at Ellie, her expression blank. She simply nodded yes.

Gathering herself to continue her speech, Ellie continued, "Sarah, I believe I can remove just the virus. You will have gaps in your memories from the last five years. You should remember most things, but there will still be gaps. I have no idea where those memory gaps will be. The gaps will be a result of how the virus is dividing up your memories, cordoning them off so you cannot find them. You will still have a functioning Intersect. That means you will be under my care for the rest of your life or until I can fix all the problems in this version. The risk to this approach Sarah, and I want you to understand, is that if removing just the virus doesn't work, you will lose all of your memories. You'll have to learn everything again. How to walk, talk, feed yourself, dress yourself. You will be starting out like a newborn, except you will have the body of a mature, adult woman."

Ellie paused. She wanted everyone present, especially Sarah, to understand what was at stake for Sarah and those who loved her, especially her brother Chuck.

"Do you have any questions Sarah," Ellie asked.

Sarah sat silently in her bed. She laid back and stared at the ceiling, blinking her eyes.

"Ellie, which is the safest approach for Sarah? Which will put her health at the least risk," Chuck asked, concern written all over his face.

"The safest option is removing the Intersect, but this has to be Sarah's choice," Ellie emphasized. She added, "Sarah, it would be best if you made the decision within two or three days."

"I want to be alone. With Chuck. Please leave us," Sarah said, quietly, but firmly.

The sudden proclamation stunned everyone into silence. Starting with Casey and Verbanski, who both desperately wanted to flee the room and the mounting level of lady feelings present, were the first to leave, followed by Mary who carried Clara and was accompanied by Devon.

With a tearful Alex holding his arm, Morgan walked over to Chuck and looked up at his best friend before speaking, "no matter what Sarah decides, I will be there for you and the blonde Valkyrie. I will give body parts, blood, tissue if it will help her. You know that buddy." Alex looked up at Chuck, "same here."

Ellie was the last to leave, pausing to touch Chuck's arm. She smiled, tears running from her eyes. She spoke so softly Chuck almost didn't hear her words, "now is the time to love her like only you can Chuck." With those words, Ellie left.

Chuck walked over to one of the cabinets in the clinic and opened the door, removing a scalpel. He walked to Sarah's bed and took her first her hands, and then her ankles, and removed her restraints. He tossed both the restraints and the disposable scalpel in the waste container before turning to face Sarah.

He looked at her before speaking in the gentlest voice he could muster. "You will no longer be treated like a prisoner in Castle. This is your home in so many ways. We came to love each other here. To become more than what we were. You taught me so many things, Sarah."

Tears ran down Chuck's face. He continued, "I love you so much that it's selfish on my part. But like I told you on the beach. I am here for you. You can trust me, even though recent events may make you think otherwise. Everyone here loves you and would do anything for you Sarah, because you would do the same, have done the same for each of us. I want you to have the Intersect removed. It is the safest choice you can make. I would rather lose you as my wife, friend and business partner than for you to lose everything or worse die or wind up a vegetable. The choice is yours, and I will respect it, but please Sarah, do what is best for you."

Chuck watched Sarah's face. She was emotionless. Suddenly Sarah looked like the weight of the world rested on her shoulders. She slowly stood from the bed and extended her hand to Chuck, taking his hand in hers.

"Chuck, I don't know what to do. Ellie said I have some time. I know we had living quarters here for when lockdowns took place. I am so confused. I feel so torn inside. But I know this much. Even if it was a cover to you, or it was a just a cover to me, I don't know, I rest better when you hold me while we sleep. Will you hold me Chuck," Sarah asked in a small, but confident voice.

Chuck smiled.

Sarah turned and led him by the hand to their Castle living quarters.


	8. Chapter 8 - Sarah's Decision

**Chapter Eight – Sarah's Decision**

 **Disclaimer:** Still don't own Chuck.

Chuck opened the door to their private room in Castle and stepped aside to let Sarah enter first. She politely smiled and walked in, stopping to observe their quarters as if it was the first time she had ever seen them.

"I took the liberty of moving your suitcase from our last mission in here. I had to leave the one we had with us in the mountain safe house," Chuck told her. "It's in the closet. I'm going to go get some water for us while you change, OK?

"That's fine," Sarah replied as Chuck left her alone to change for bed. She walked in the closet and found several tuxedos, suits and lots of t-shirts hanging up. Several Nerd Herd uniforms were hanging up as well along with belts, shoes, ties, anything a male agent would need to wear for a mission.

On the right side of the closet, which Sarah assumed was hers, there were no clothes at all with the exception of several designer evening gowns wrapped in plastic from a local dry cleaners. Her suitcase was on a luggage rack similar to one found in five star hotels, ready for her to open. _This is odd_ Sarah thought to herself. Agent Walker answered out loud, "they always make a mistake. This is proof Chuck's lying. He forgot to hang up your cover clothes." _No, I don't think that's it. There's some reason why Chuck didn't unpack my suitcase,_ Sarah thought.

She opened her suitcase and carefully hung up the few items of clothing she had with her. She put her shoes on the shoe rack and carried her underwear to the dresser in the room and placed it neatly in an empty drawer. Returning to the closet Sarah looked at what she had to choose from in terms of sleepwear that was clean. All she had left was a purple nightgown with matching underwear. Parts of the top, were quite sheer while others were opaque enough to provide needed coverage in strategic areas.

For some reason Sarah felt she would be comfortable sleeping in the somewhat racy outfit. Agent Walker smiled. _It might be fun to tease Chuck a little. It's not like he doesn't deserve to suffer for tranqing me repeatedly_. She quickly stripped and slipped into the outfit. She walked into the room to find Chuck had brought all of her "female maintenance equipment" as he and Casey seemed to refer to it. She ran a brush through her hair and curled it with her fingers in different places, allowing it to fall around her face, framing it in an attractive manner.

"What? Noooooo, no, no, no."

Sarah spun around to see Chuck standing with his mouth wide open, two bottles of sparkling water in his hands.

"Something wrong, Chuck?" Walker said with a flirty smile. "What did you think was going to happen tonight? We are, just sleeping together so I can rest better."

She walked to her side of the bed, pulled the covers back and slowly lowered herself onto the bed, reclining on her right side, resting on her elbow, her long legs exposed. Sarah smiled invitingly, enjoying the expression on Chuck's face.

"Come to bed now, Chuck," Walker said coyly. "Oh, and Chuck."

"Yesssssss, Saruuuuh," Chuck said, drawing out the two words.

"Turn the lights out."

"Ok, Sarah."

Walker quickly drew the covers over herself and pulled them up to her chin before stating in her blunt, matter of fact manner, "keep your hands to your self, Chuck. Your mission is to hold me so I rest effectively, not to get cheap thrills." She heard Chuck set down the two bottles of water on the dress before he turned off the light.

Walker grinned in the darkness as she heard Chuck ever so quietly say, "Saruuuh, your killing meeeeee." Chuck slipped into the bed and lay flat on his back, looking at the ceiling. He closed his eyes and said nothing. After a few moments he reached out with his left arm and lightly touched Sarah on her shoulder. He let his arm lay there, inviting her to move over and use him as a pillow as she e so often had in the past.

Sarah suddenly felt the need to be held and to rest, to forget the weighty and desperate choice she was faced with making and too little time with which to make it. Slowly she moved over next to Chuck, rolling onto her left side and wiggling until she was comfortable, her head resting on his shoulder. She felt the slow, steady rhythm of his breathing and began to relax.

As Sarah drifted to sleep, her last thought was not of the difficult choice she had to make but rather, _I think I could get used to this quite easily._

Chuck did not move other than to gently wrap his arm around her. He laid there, thousands of thoughts flashing through his mind almost as if the Intersect were reviewing all its stored images. Chuck's mind replayed the many happy memories of his life with Sarah, tears running down his cheeks. He knew the right thing to do would be to encourage her to remove the Intersect. Sarah would probably leave when it was safe to do as a result, but it was the right thing to tell her. Sarah had always done the right thing for him, no matter the cost to her. He would do this for her. He would let her go.

 **Hours later…**

Chuck felt calmer after realizing he had to encourage Sarah to remove her Intersect. He felt exhausted physically and drained, spent emotionally. Still sleep would not come. Sarah rested just as she had when she fell asleep. Chuck loved holding her like this. He wanted to treasure this last night of holding his angel, his wife.

Sarah began to move her head. She rolled over on her right side and with her left arm pulled Chuck to her. He moved her blonde hair out of her face with his right hand. She placed her cold left foot on top of his and Chuck quickly covered it with his own foot. Sarah squirmed again murmuring to herself. After a few moments she quieted and slept peacefully. Chuck smiled at his sleeping wife and finally drifted off to sleep.

 **Somewhere…**

The three of them sat in a boardroom at the executive table. Agent Walker sat at the head of the table and half way down the table, on opposite sides, sat Jenny on one side and Sarah on the other.

"We have a decision to make," Walker announced authoritatively.

The other two Sarah's looked at her, waiting to discover if Agent Walker had reached a decision.

"I have decided we will have our Intersect removed. It is the safest choice medically and it will allow me to protect us from Chuck," Walker stated bluntly.

"What about what Jenny and I want," Sarah challenged.

"It is my job to protect us. This will allow me to do that most effectively," Walker replied.

"I don't want to be abandoned again. It will be too much for me," Jenny stated, looking at Sarah for support. "Is it necessary to have the Intersect removed?"

"Yes. Removing all memories of Chuck will allow me to effectively protect us from Chuck, from abandonment. We can't trust him. It's for the best," Walker said to reassure Jenny.

Walker stood and walked to Jenny and lovingly brushed Jenny's hair with her fingers, grooming her. Jenny tensed at Walker's touch before slowly relaxing.

"Jenny, I will never abandon you. I will always be there for you. The best way, the safest way for that to be possible is to remove the Intersect. You can trust me to protect you," Walker said softly.

"I like kissing Chuck," Sarah stated suddenly. "I don't know why, but I feel this is important to our discussion."

"Kissing? Seriously, Sarah. We can seduce any man we want if we want to kiss someone," Walker said sarcastically.

"Did you really like kissing him Sarah," Jenny asked inquisitively. "How did it make you feel?"

"What, not you too," Walker blurted out in disgust.

Sarah held up her hand, her palm facing Walker, silencing her.

Turning to look directly in Jenny's eyes as she spoke, Sarah said, "It made me feel nice Jenny, in a lot of different ways. Sometimes it was sweet. Other times it was fun, sexy. Sometimes kissing Chuck was comforting, reassuring. Sometimes, sometimes it filled me with desire, passion," Sarah explained.

"Boys in high school would kiss me. Then they touched me. It was sweet at first, it made me think they liked me. Then their hands would go to places and I would feel…I would feel dirty," Jenny said. "Those boys didn't really like me. They took advantage of my being lonely. I wanted to be liked so much, to not be lonely."

"Yes, that happened. Those boys did those things. They were just using you. They didn't like you," Walker snapped. "But I always was there. I made them take us home or I ran away. You never surrendered your virtue because I was there to protect you! I protected you!"

"Jenny, this is why we have to remove the Intersect! It's so I can protect you. You have to understand," Walker said, her voice showing slight signs of tension, surprise at Jenny even participating in the debate. "Remember, all those kids in high school who laughed at us. Made fun of our braces, our hair, the fact we played in the orchestra. The fact Dad was in prison! I was there! I protected you. Kept you safe."

Walker walked back to the front of the table and sat down. She looked sternly at Jenny before saying, "let's not forget our father shall we? No, we can't do that. How many times has he let us down? Used us in his con games? Never forget he abandoned us when we needed him in high school! Who took care of us then? Chuck? Please. Director Graham came. We joined the CIA and I learned to protect us with greater skill. Me, Agent Sarah Walker! I made us confident. I made us beautiful."

Jenny looked down, no longer able to look at Walker. Her shoulders slumped and she placed her hands in her lap.

Smiling, sensing Jenny was defeated, Walker turned to face Sarah. _One down and one to go._ She would prevail. She would protect them from Chuck. From anything.

Sarah looked at Walker with a sweet smile. Suddenly her face became harsh as she spoke, "I'm sorry life has been so unkind to you, to us."

"Yeah, well that's just the lot in life that we've had. I can handle it though. As hard as it has been for us, I've protected us. Don't forget that," Walker spat at Sarah.

"Really, that's how you feel Agent Walker? I don't recall you being there when Dad was arrested. I don't recall you at all until after entering the CIA and going through training. Some of that training was horrible for Jenny. The seduction training. You didn't protect Jenny from that. You didn't protect me from that. What about our Red Test? You were all too happy to kill that woman. I've had nightmares about our Red Test ever since. You never protected us from that. You didn't protect us from Bryce either," Sarah reminded Walker.

"In fact, if I recall, it was your idea to take a chance on the relationship with Bryce because he was a spy. You, more than any one of us, should have been on guard to protect us from Bryce! Bryce used us for sex! Do you even care how Jenny felt when she realized that? Do you? You talk about betrayal and then you let your guard down. Bryce betrayed all of us professionally and personally. Seems to me you're overlooking that little fact Walker." Sarah stood from her chair and walked around the table to Jenny. She pulled out a chair and sat next to Jenny, putting her arm around her. "It's ok Jenny. Don't let Walker fool you. She's just as scared as we are," Sarah whispered.

Without raising her head, Sarah aimed her eyes at Walker and challenged her, "aren't you Walker? Scared, just like Jenny and me?"

Walker glared back and folded her arms across her chest. She quickly looked outside through one of the large windows, saying nothing.

 **In Chuck and Sarah's living quarters…**

Sarah became restless, her legs kicking Chuck, waking him up. She settled down quickly, her face scowling, her mouth in a frown. Chuck pulled her closer to him but she pushed back and mumbled "no, I'll protect us."

Chuck loosened his hug on Sarah and her body relaxed. He touched her forehead and noticed her temperature was slightly elevated. Not much, but something he would be sure to let Ellie know about in the morning.

He watched her eyelids move and realized she must be dreaming. _I wonder what she's dreaming about_? In minutes Chuck drifted back to sleep.

 **Somewhere…**

Walker looked at Sarah and unfolded her arms, placing them before her on the executive table. She placed one hand on top of the other much as any executive might at a board meeting, making it clear through her body language who was in charge.

"What about Prague? What about all the times Chuck broke up our cover relationship? What about those horrible brunettes? Hmmm! Lou. He dumped us for her right after our first cover sleep over. Then he got back with his ex, Jill and she was Fulcrum! He slept with her! In our bed! Let's not forget Hannah either. She was some floozy he picked up on a mission when I wasn't there to keep an eye on him. She didn't just sleep with Chuck in our bed, she used our shower in our apartment! Chuck let her, " Walker exclaimed.

"I see now," Sarah said coyly.

"See what," Walker snapped back.

"These brunette floozies of Chucks, they slept in "our bed" in "our room" in "our apartment," well Lou didn't but does that matter Walker, " Sarah asked with sarcasm, her expression condescending. "Since when did you start thinking of those as "ours?"

Walker stood and walked to the window, her back turned away from Sarah and Jenny. "You know exactly what I mean. Those brunettes were a threat to us, to our cover. The cover had to be protected. They had no right to threaten our cover," Walker said emphatically.

"Sounds like you're a little jealous to me. I know I was. I seem to recall you warning those brunettes to not hurt Chuck. What was that all about? Protecting Chuck were we," Sarah said in a taunting voice.

Walker was silent for a moment. "It was my job. I was his handler. He's nothing more than an invaluable asset. I protected him and I protected us. I tried to keep Chuck from finding out about Jenny, to keep her safe. But you, you had to go and tell him things, private things about us. You compromised us Sarah!"

Jenny lifted her head and looked straight ahead, speaking softly, "Chuck is a gentleman. When he kissed me he never did things I didn't want him to. He likes to bring us gardenias. Chuck's been mean to us, said things that hurt our feelings. But he was sorry later. When Chuck took me to the reunion, he protected me, watched over me. Chuck likes me. He was curious about ME. Me, Jenny. Not you Walker, or Sarah even. Me, Jenny, he wanted to know me."

Jenny's faced dropped again, almost as if the argument between them was too much for her. She softly spoke, "I like how safe I feel when Chuck holds us. It's not like with Dad, I just know Chuck will be there when I need him."

"Casey is hard to read, but he helped Chuck understand us, that we need to be loved, protected," Sarah said with a laugh, remembering the day she and Chuck had spent locked in a detention cell. _**(See Casey, Lady Feelings and The Good of the Team).**_ Casey taught Chuck to pay attention to our lady feelings as Casey calls them. He taught Chuck our cover relationship was real to us. Casey helped Chuck stand up to General Beckman so we could date for real. In fact, Chuck protected our relationship from the Company Walker."

"Fine," Walker snapped, "still doesn't explain Prague."

"You don't listen," Jenny said. "Chuck explained that several times to us. He explained it to us again yesterday."

"Oh, so you trust him now Jenny," Walker snarled.

Jenny lowered her head and slumped, making herself as small as possible.

"Jenny, don't let Walker intimidate you. This decision will change all of us. Tell us why Prague is important to you. Chuck really hurt me at Prague and he hurt Walker, too," Sarah told Jenny.

"Why? Neither of you would understand," Jenny said softly.

"Sarah, what difference does it make what Jenny thinks about Prague? As far as I am concerned, Prague is all the proof we need that we can't trust Chuck not to abandon us, to betray us," Walker said, her voice becoming more emphatic with each word.

"Neither of you can understand," Jenny screamed, leaping from her seat. "You know why I learned to throw knives? Do either of you? It's because people looked at me and they saw this ugly, lonely girl! They saw easy prey! I got laughed at, I was the butt of so many jokes. Neither of you were there to protect me! So I learned to throw knives. You didn't protect me from those boys Walker."

"Jenny, it's ok," Sarah said.

"No it's not," Jenny cried, tears running down her face. "You're beautiful! Men look at you and they see a beautiful woman Sarah. And Walker, you walk around in stunning designer clothes. You could be a model you're so pretty. You don't know what its like to be plain Jenny. Jenny that gets made fun of. Jenny that gets left behind," she sobbed.

"Chuck gets it. Why can't you see it," Jenny shouted at Walker. "You and Sarah made Chuck feel intimidated. How could a nerd like Chuck be with beautiful women like the two of you? Of course he had to leave us at Prague! Chuck thought we would never truly love him unless he could prove to the two of you he was an equal, that he was a spy like you Walker!"

"Chuck had to leave us, so he could come back to us. How could he not? And you, you Sarah, you taught him to think of others, to protect others. How could Chuck not leave us so he could protect others? Even Carina understood that!" Jenny paused. "I don't care what either of you think anymore. I trust Chuck. Not that it makes any difference." She glared hatefully at Walker. "You'll just do what you want."

Jenny stood and walked to the door at the back of the room and stood, her back facing Sarah and Walker.

"She has a point," Sarah said.

"Whatever," Walker responded, folding her arms and glaring out the window.

Sarah walked over to Walker and put her arms around her. "I am just as terrified as you are Walker. No matter what we choose, bad things could happen. But that's just it Walker. You know as well as I do, no matter how much we try to stop change, it just keeps happening. No matter how much your try to protect us, you just can't stop bad things from happening."

Walker jerked away from Sarah and walked to the door at the opposite end of the room from where Jenny stood and turned her back to Sarah and Jenny. She stood, waiting in silence.

Sarah sighed and walked to her original seat and sat down. She spoke softly but with enough volume for both Jenny and Walker to hear her. "We can choose to be alone but will we ever really be safe? We can choose to leave Chuck but will we ever find love again? Is safety and protection, something we might not be able to find, worth never feeling love again?" Sarah stood, turned and walked to the door on the side of the room and stood waiting.


	9. Chapter 9 - Gone in 60 Seconds

**Chapter Nine – Gone in Sixty Seconds**

 **Disclaimer:** Still don't own Chuck

"Ellie, Ellie, please wake up."

Ellie rolled over and moaned, "no, its way too early."

"Ellie, Ellie, please."

"Devon, no morning sex. I'm too tired," Ellie groaned.

"It's me, not Devon."

Ellie's head popped up, her face flushing in embarrassment. "Did I just say morning sex? Please forget I said that."

Ellie rubbed her eyes and opened them, blinking to clear her vision.

"Sarah, it's you. I am so sorry. You surprised me that's all." Ellie giggled, "this time of the morning it's usually Devon, you know. What can I do for you?

"I've made my decision."

Ellie sat up straight quickly, her serious doctor expression now firmly on her face. "Sarah, wait for me in the clinic. Let me get some scrubs on and we'll talk as soon as I get there."

Ellie went to the bathroom, brushed her teeth and ran a comb through her hair. She pulled on clean scrubs and hurried to the clinic.

She found Sarah standing in the clinic, dressed in a purple nightie. Ellie remembered it in embarrassment. _Poor Chuck and Sarah. She wore that the night I was poisoned with sodium penethol. Oh that was embarrassing, probably for them too._

Moving quickly to Sarah, Ellie wrapped her arms around her sister-in-law from behind. Sarah did not respond in any way, she just stood still. Ellie whispered, "it will be all right Sarah." For a few minutes the two women just stood still, saying nothing.

"Ellie, I've decided I want you to remove the virus. I understand the risks. Ellie, I might not be able to feel everything I should. I can't, no matter how hard I try, remember everything I should. But Ellie, I keep coming back to Chuck. I don't know why."

"After I tried to kill you, Chuck met me at our Dream House. He wouldn't fight me. As confused as I am about so many things, I know this, Chuck loves me. I might not be able to trust him, but he loves me."

"I came back to him after Casey gave me my mission log where I heard myself say I loved Chuck. I came back to him after I failed in my attempt on Quinn's life. I came back to our spot on the beach and Chuck came to me. Ellie, no matter what happens, we always find each other. Even after Prague and all of our problems, we always find each other. Ellie, I'm not doing this for just Chuck. I'm taking this chance for me as much as I am Chuck." Softly she said, "If it doesn't work, it won't matter because I'll be gone for good."

Tears flowed from her eyes as she turned to look at Ellie. She laughed as she spoke, "you might not know this, but Chuck as a thing for brunettes Ellie. Trust me on this one. If I go away, help find him a sweet brunette who will care for him and love him. Help her like you've helped me. Help her love him and forget me."

Bursting into tears, Ellie hugged Sarah close. The two embraced, crying silently. Ellie stepped back, wiping tears from her eyes. "Are you sure this is what you want to do?"

Sarah nodded.

"Let me get what I need then we'll need to go to the Castle annex that is not used anymore."

 **One hour later…**

Sarah sat strapped in what looked like a dentists chair. Electrodes ran from her forehead and temple to computers at a monitoring station. Two large screens suspended from the ceiling filled the space of her limited range of vision. Blinders like those used on horses directed her sight at the two screens. Her arms, legs and torso were held down by multiple restraints. A single restraint ran across her head, holding it in place. An IV ran to her arm. She wore an EKG harness, the electrodes attached to her chest, under her nightgown. Her eyelids were held open by clamps fastened to the blinders.

"Ellie, how long will this take?"

Ellie walked over from the monitoring area. "Sarah, everything is ready to go. I rebuilt this equipment with Chuck's help based on what I learned from Dad's notes, his computer and the suppressor I got from Mom. Please understand, I have no way to test this and it's just a theory. I need you to reassure me you comprehend what I'm telling you Sarah."

"I have to do this Ellie. This is my choice."

Ellie nodded and smiled at Sarah. "The process lasts sixty seconds. I'm not going to lie to you Sarah. This is going to be excruciating. I have anti-nausea medication in your IV so you won't vomit and aspirate it into your lungs. The entire process of removing the virus lasts sixty seconds. How long the pain will last after that I can't tell you. It shouldn't last too long after the removal, but I just don't know. I have pain meds ready if you need them. Do you have any more questions, Sarah?"

When no more questions were forthcoming Ellie picked up a device for Sarah to bite down on. "Sarah, I am going to put this in your mouth. It is for you to bite down on. It will help you cope with the pain and prevent you from biting your tongue or swallowing it." She inserted it in Sarah's mouth and walked to the monitoring station.

Ellie donned a pair of dark glasses, effectively blinding herself. By sense of touch she found the switch to start the process. "Sarah, we'll start on the count of three. One, Two, Three."

 **Somewhere…**

The three women stood in the room. Each with facing a door, standing with their back to the other two. The lights in the room dimmed and then flashed. Walker screamed in agony and collapsed to the floor, her arms wrapped around her head, rolling back and forth, her body convulsing. Waves of nausea coursed through Walker's body. She vomited, spewing the contents of her stomach on the floor, rolling in agony Walker got vomit on her clothes and in her hair.

Sarah simply stared straight ahead, as if she sensed nothing, heard nothing, felt nothing. She just stood, looking straight ahead with no expression on her face. Slowly, Sarah fell backwards onto the floor. She lay on her back just as if she was standing, her arms by her side, her hair neatly arranged around her face, her gaze pinpointed to a single spot on the ceiling, never wavering. Slowly, Sarah turned her head to the right to look at Jenny.

Jenny waited till she could stand it no longer. Slowly she extended her right hand till she felt the doorknob in her hand. She reached behind her back and lifted her cotton blouse and felt for the handle of her knife in the elastic of her skirt. Grasping her knife, Jenny turned the doorknob and opened the door.

Blinding light burst through the door, forcing Jenny to cover her eyes with her right forearm. In that moment, Jenny gathered all the courage she had ever had and for all of them, stepped through the door.

 **Castle…**

Ellie shook from crying. Sarah's muffled screams were horrible, terrifying, like nothing Ellie had ever heard, even in the ER when horrible trauma cases came in, far worse than an injured animal trapped and in fear. The lights from the screens stopped and a beep from her computer told her the virus had been removed. Ellie tore off her glasses and rushed to Sarah.

Sarah was still screaming and straining against her restraints as if thousands of high amperage volts were running through her body. Her hair was drenched in sweat, her body damp and glistening.

Just as quickly as the screams started they stopped. Ellie detached Sarah's eyelids and quickly removed the bit in her mouth, throwing it on the floor.

Terrified to even speak, Ellie waited for Sarah to respond in some way. Sarah's eyes had closed and her breathing was rapid, her pulse elevated. As the seconds passed her breathing slowed and her pulse returned to normal. Ellie picked up a cloth from the tray of medical implements next to the chair and lovingly wiped Sarah's brow. Quickly she removed all of the various electrodes attached to Sarah.

Ellie realized she was holding her breath, causing her lungs to burn and her heart to beat rapidly. _Breath you silly goose. Breath._ She tossed the cloth on the tray and moved to remove Sarah's restraints.

Each restraint came loose easily as Ellie started at Sarah's head and worked towards her feet. She removed the last of the foot restraints and slowly turned to look at an unconscious Sarah.

 **That morning…**

Chuck woke up. He felt no more rested than when he had fallen asleep. With his eyes still shut he moaned and reached for Sarah. His hand patted the empty bed. Sarah was gone. His heart racing in shock, Chuck sat up quickly.

 _Calm down. Calm down. If something was wrong Ellie would have woken you up. Morgan would be here. Casey would be here. It's alright. Everything will be alright. Stop spiraling. Stop spiraling._

Chuck stood up and walked to the vanity mirror in their room. He moved Sarah's chair aside so he could view himself. He looked awful. His eyes were swollen, his hair, always curly was pointing in every direction. Worse of all, he had drooled on himself and he could smell his own breath.

Wanting to talk to Sarah, he quickly washed his face, brushed his teeth, put on deodorant, found a t-shirt that would pass the sniff test, put it on and pulled on his pants. I'll shower later he thought. His stomach rumbled loudly, reminding him he needed to eat.

Nervous about talking to Sarah and seeing the others, Chuck walked slowly down the hall from the living areas towards the kitchen area close to the briefing room and armory.

A sleepy Morgan emerged from the kitchen area walking back towards the living quarters, his hand over his eyes. His pajama pants dragged under his bare feet. An old t-shirt completed his attire. His hair, like Chucks, was wild, pointing in all directions.

Upon hearing Chuck's approach, Morgan lowered his hand and pointed emphatically at Chuck. "You have to do something with that blonde, leggy Valkyrie of yours. If you don't I'm going to go blind and it will be all your fault buddy. Well not blind, so much as Alex WILL SCRATCH MY EYES OUT! And then Casey, being Casey, will stomp on my eyeballs and they'll look like that Hydra thing we found that Sarah put in Casey's pants pocket when she threw him out of that building. I hate you Chuck!" Just as quickly as the outburst started, it ended and Morgan, looking sleepy again, stumbled past Chuck.

Puzzled, and a little concerned, Chuck hurried to the briefing area. Casey was sitting at the briefing table, reading reports and smoking a cigar. Verbanski sat next to Casey wearing a robe and looking at notes she had evidently written earlier.

"Uh, Casey, what is the Carmichael Industries company policy about smoking in the work place," Chuck asked in a firm voice.

Without looking up, Casey took a puff from his cigar, took it from his mouth and flicked the ashes onto a saucer sitting on the table. His only response was a grunt.

"Casey," Chuck repeated insistently.

Casey looked up at Chuck. "Carmichael Industries company policy states no smoking allowed in company facilities."

Casey, still looking at Chuck, took another puff and added, "unless during times of lockdown where the chief of security, me, has the authority to grant permission to engage in smoking on Carmichael Industries property. Good enough for you Bartkowski?" Casey grinned.

Verbanski leaned over to place her head lovingly in Casey's shoulder. Both of them were smiling at Chuck, obviously happy about something.

"Breakfast is ready. Who wants pancakes and bacon" a voice called out from the kitchen.

Chuck turned to see Sarah standing in her purple nightgown, wearing an apron, spatula held high in hand her right hand, wearing the biggest smile on her face he had ever seen.

Chuck smiled and turned to Casey. "Smoke'em if you got'em big guy."


	10. Chapter 10 - Sarah's Home

**Chapter 10 – Sarah's Home**

 **Disclaimer:** Still don't own Chuck

 _After all the angst and action in the past chapters, I thought I would like to try my hand at something lighter and hopefully amusing._

The smells of fried bacon, fruit and pancakes filled the room. Nobody talked and sounds of cutting and scraping filled the eating area, the only other sounds were that of grunts and moans of pleasure as each enjoyed the food.

The sounds of group bliss during a meal were suddenly interrupted by the command, "put this on!"

Everyone turned to look at Alex standing in the entranceway, holding out a black trench coat at arms length. "I'm as overjoyed as everyone that your back Sarah, really, I am. But wear some clothes, please! Otherwise, I'm gouging Morgan's eyes out and it'll be your fault! Morgan knows he is to never look at another leggy woman and there you are, walking around in a skimpy outfit. I won't stand for it!" Alex tossed the trench coat in Sarah's direction and promptly crossed her arms and stomped her foot, an angry scowl on her face.

Casey grunted and then whispered to Sarah, "She means it. Don't forget she's my daughter. I can't be held responsible if she attacks."

Sarah glared at Alex, chewing her pancakes. She reached out and picked up her glass of orange juice and took a sip. She reached into her lap and picked up her napkin, folded it and tossed on her plate. Reaching behind her back, she untied the straps holding her apron on, allowing it to fall to her lap, never smiling once.

"Well hello to you too, Alex," Sarah snarled as she stood and walked to the end of the table to face Alex, her arms by her side, standing tall with her rib cage spread and her shoulders pulled back, emphasizing the effect of her purple nightgown's cut in displaying her female chest assets. Her chin jutting out and teeth clinched, Sarah moved slightly, shifting her weight from foot to foot, establishing perfect balance.

Chuck recognized the expression and attitude Sarah was displaying all too well, having seen it a few times himself when he had misplaced one of her throwing knives when making the bed or whenever he didn't stay in the car when she told him to. He jumped to his feet and scooped up the black trench coat. Quickly he draped it around Sarah's shoulders, covering her, as he whispered in her ear, "be nice Sweetie, be nice. Alex is very sensitive about tall, leggy women being around Morgan to begin with. She loves you, but your current attire is a bit provocative and while I love, oh yes, I love the way it looks on you, as your husband, I would prefer if you only wore this without a robe in the privacy of our room."

Sarah continued to glare at Alex, tense and ready to strike. She whispered to Chuck, "ok, I won't kick her ass this time, but only because you asked and she's Casey's daughter. Her Morgan problems are her own to resolve." Sarah slipped her arms through the sleeves of the jacket and buttoned the middle button before finally tying the belt around her slender waist.

"Alex dear, I'll keep your request in mind for the future," she said, the sarcasm dripping from her words, "but only because my husband doesn't want anyone to see me like this but him. Oh, and if you're going to complain about my attire, let me tell you this. Chuck better not see your tush hanging out ever again. You might want to wear a bigger t-shirt that covers more than the top half of your butt."

Alex's eyes became big as her mouth fell open in shock and surprise. Quickly she reached to feel her bottom, discovering Sarah was right. Her lacy panties were proudly on display as Morgan's t-shirt was far too short to cover her properly. Blushing, Alex pulled down her t-shirt, turned and ran from the eating area.

Sarah sat down, put her napkin in her lap, picked up her silverware and proceeded to cut up what was left of her pancakes. The silence was deafening. Chuck slowly returned to his chair and sat down. Sarah stabbed pieces of pancake with her fork and took a bite. She sat and looked at everyone at the table as she chewed: Chuck, Casey, Verbanski, Mary, Clara, Awesome and Ellie. Casey's low growl broke the silence.

"Walker, was that necessary? Awesome is a doctor and see's naked women all the time. I've seen you dressed in far worse on missions and Chuck's your husband. I get it you feel comfortable around us. But this is Alex, my baby girl," Casey growled through clinched teeth. "Have you forgotten Carina?"

A puzzled look slowly spread over Sarah's face as she slowly stopped chewing. "What does Carina have to do with this," Sarah asked, truly dumbfounded.

"Sarah, honey, it's ok, you'd never say that to Alex if your remembered," Ellie interjected. Standing, Ellie quickly ran over to Sarah and placed her hand on Sarah's forehead. "You don't feel warm, that's good. I think we found the first hole in your memory Sarah. Also, you might want to work on Sarah being in control and not Agent Walker," Ellie added before returning to her seat.

"Please tell me why Alex is so upset. What did Carina have to do with this? Alex came in here and threatened me, insulted me and I don't take that off anyone," Sarah said in frustration, gesturing with both hands in frustration.

"No excuse Walker," Casey said through clinched teeth, his fists clinched and eyes staring intently at Sarah. "Calm down baby, calm down John," Verbanski whispered, love and concern showing in her eyes as she stroked the big man's arm. "We knew Sarah would have issues, she'll learn. And John, Alex could have displayed more tact in how she approached Sarah on the subject."

Casey relaxed his teeth and fists but continued to glare at Sarah. Verbanski leaned over to whisper in his ear, "I'm proud of her though John. The apple didn't fall far from the tree. Subtly was never your strong suit. Alex has established her boundary and Sarah will respect it. There are going to be clashes if we're all cooped up here. We have five adult alpha females in one living space. Would you expect any less?

Casey grunted he understood and he looked down at his plate. "Honey, my Colonel," Verbanski whispered, "Alex has to learn there are other, less confrontational ways to deal with these things. She's not a match for Sarah in hand-to-hand combat. A normal woman, it's over in seconds, but not Sarah. Alex has to learn to assess threats better. I'll work with her John, and so can Mary."

Chuck whispered in Sarah's ear the history of Morgan, Carina and Alex. Sarah's eyes grew wider and wider, her mouth falling open. Chuck finished the story and sat up in his chair. Sarah, covered her open mouth with her hand turning to lean on Chuck who put his arm around her and hugged her close. "Casey, I am so sorry," Sarah said softly. I didn't remember. I would never have said what I said if I had remembered. I would have said something snarky, but not what I said," tears welling in her eyes.

Sarah stood quickly, wiping the tears from her eyes, "Casey, I'm going to go apologize right now." Sarah quickly strode from the eating area, leaving everyone in silence.

With the same suddenness that Sarah left the eating area, a loud thud broke the silence, drawing everyone's attention to Ellie. With her typical authoritative, emphatic speech when in charge, Ellie began spewing forth words, "John, what did I tell everyone about possible memory gaps Sarah could have, hmm? What did I say? She just had the virus removed four hours ago. It's a miracle she's up and walking around, that she's remembers so much, that she can feel her emotions for Chuck, for all of us again. What's worse, after Chuck, you are the most important person to her in this room. I'm ordering you to be patient with her for at least a week." Casey, surprised to be under verbal assault from Ellie, leaned back and away from her, his hands up in a defensive posture, a rare sight for everyone who knew the giant sniper.

Awesome, who was watching Verbanski coil as if preparing to strike, reached over and touched his wife's arm. "Ellie, Ellie, honey, it's OK. It's OK. Casey's got it. We've all got it. Just a little too much stress over the last few weeks, too much change for all of us. Let's be happy Sarah's much better, and she owes so much of that awesome recovery to you. You're awesome babe. Let's just chill and enjoy this awesome breakfast."

Ellie glared at Casey, turned to glare at Awesome and then folded her arms and sat back, announcing with certainty again, "Sarah's my patient. What I say goes when it comes to her treatment."

Mary leaned forward and held Clara out to Ellie. "Here honey, take Clara. Everyone understands you're just looking out for Sarah's well being. Everyone is just tense."

Verbanski relaxed, realizing Ellie was just concerned and as a medical doctor asserting protectiveness over her patient. Everyone else was under stress from so many different sources. She leaned over again to whisper to Casey, "my Colonel, there are far too many alpha females here. If we don't get a mission and shoot something soon, there is going to be bloodshed." Casey grunted his agreement, leaning over to whisper in her ear, "my trigger finger is starting to itch."

 **Living quarters in Castle…**

Sarah knocked on the door to Morgan and Alex's room before slowly opening the door. Morgan was sitting next to Alex on their bed, his arm around her. Alex's eyes were puffy from crying, tear tracks stained with mascara ran down her cheeks.

"Morgan, would you leave the two of us alone, please. I would like to talk to Alex in private a moment," Sarah asked politely.

"Are you sure that's a good idea. The last thing I need right now is Casey beating me to death and then Chuck defiling my dead body because the two of you came to blows," Morgan said, his voice trembling slightly. "This is a delicate situation Sarah, we're all confined to Castle at the moment, and well, Alex finds this to be a sensitive subject."

"Morgan, I promise, no bloodshed. I came to apologize to Alex," Sarah said sweetly with a broad smile. Suddenly adopting her enforcer glare, Sarah ordered, "now leave!"

"I want both of you to note, I am leaving against my better judgment and under duress. Any and all injuries or damage incurred due to physical combat between the two of you is not to be held against me. I am not liable," Morgan said with hands raised in surrender as he inched his way past Sarah, closing the door behind him.

As Sarah turned to look at the tiny Alex, she could hear Morgan running down the corridor shouting, "Casey, Chuck, there's going to be trouble! It's not my fault! They wouldn't listen."

Sarah sat down a few inches away from Alex who had folded her arms across her chest and was looking down the floor.

"I'm sorry Alex. You came in and challenged me like that and I don't take that from anyone. Chuck would have been sleeping on the couch for a week. I didn't remember the problems Carina caused between the two of you. Chuck had to tell me. To be honest, I'm not surprised. This is typical of Carina," Sarah told Alex.

Alex looked at Sarah, new tears running from her eyes. "I'm sorry too. It's just your so beautiful and your leggy like Carina. To make things worse, Ellie runs around in shorts and a skimpy top and she's a beautiful woman too. I'm so short and I don't have long legs like you and Ellie. For so long Morgan was in love with Ellie and Sarah, you have to know, Morgan has a thing for tall, leggy women. We're just starting to really get close but I still feel so insecure and I really love Morgan."

Sarah put her arm around the younger woman and hugged her. Alex hugged Sarah back and sat up. Sarah leaned over and whispered conspiratorially, "I'll tell you a secret. It's a good thing you're a red head or I would have kicked your ass back there. Chuck has a thing for short brunettes and it makes me crazy jealous still."

Alex wiped her eyes, a huge grin appearing on her face. "Really, you get jealous too! I didn't think that a woman as beautiful as you could feel threatened by another woman."

"Oh, let me tell you Alex, I can get jealous. Chuck cover broke up with me for this girl named Lou. Hate her to this day. She owns a deli and you know how Chuck loves sandwiches. She was your size and really cute. I interrupted their first date, which unfortunately, had turned into a mission for Chuck, well, I say unfortunately," Sarah giggled at her memory of how she had ruined Chuck's first date with Lou. Alex giggled with her and then suddenly exclaimed, "Sarah, you had a memory come back!"

The two women hugged and giggled, bonding over their shared secret insecurity.

Alex lowered her voice and spoke in a secretive manner, "Sarah, I have been wondering, Chuck and Morgan do so much together, and now Morgan spends so much time with my Dad, do they ever…

 **In the corridor…**

Mary and Verbanski stood at the end of the corridor to the living area, watching as Chuck, Morgan and Casey stooped outside Morgan and Alex's room, trying intently to hear the conversation inside.

Chuck whispered to Morgan and Casey, "They're talking about us. Sharing intel. We're doomed." Casey grunted, "shut up Moron. Can't make out what they're saying. We need accurate intel."

"What are we going to do with them, Gertrude," Mary sighed, shaking her head.

"I know Mary. Just look at them. Chuck, the male intersect. John, the greatest living sniper and Morgan, who John says could become the best magnet in our profession. Two super spies and one in training, acting like adolescent boys," Verbsanski whispered.


	11. Chapter 11 - The Calm Before the Storm

**Chapter Eleven – Regrouping for Battle**

 **Disclaimer:** Don't own Chuck

 _For those who have been waiting for the villains, the first hint will come in the chapter following this, so hang in there. I think the villains will be a great challenge to Team Bartowski, who by the way, is going to be joined by a very unlikely new member!_

The afternoon had been a relaxing one for everyone. They played games, watched Star Wars, Casablanca and a couple of episodes of Downton Abbey, which surprisingly enough, even Verbanski enjoyed. After a highly competitive game of Know Ya, that Morgan won, though Sarah finished a close second, the group enjoyed a spaghetti dinner cooked by Ellie. Mary had retired early, taking Clara with her. As the evening passed, each of the couples said their good nights and retired to their sleeping quarters. The rare evening of relaxation led them to leave the kitchen and eating area a mess to be cleaned up in the morning.

 **Sarah and Chuck…**

"I've missed this," Sarah said softly as she ran her fingers through Chuck's chest hair, her head comfortably resting on his right shoulder, her chest pressed against his side with her left leg draped over his right leg.

"Yeeaaah, I missed this too," Chuck said in his goofy way. Smiling he leaned his head over and kissed Sarah's nose as he ran his left hand up and down her bare back. Sarah smiled at her husband before suddenly rolling on to her left side and pulling the covers up under her chin. She wiggled in order to press her back against Chuck's side while pulling her legs up. Sarah pressed her head against Chuck's shoulder before whispering, " do you still love me Chuck?"

Chuck turned on his side and wrapped his arms around Sarah, pulling her even closer, his reply one simple word, "yes."

"Do you love all of me," Sarah asked.

"Sweetie, I love you, but I'm not sure I understand what you're asking me," Chuck replied. "You're kind of worrying me."

"This entire ordeal has been horrible. I wish I had never uploaded the Intersect. None of this would have happened. The guilt I'm feeling, the shame for what I put our family and friends through is horrible," Sarah told him. "The things I have learned about myself, even in the last 48 hours, have been unsettling. I just need to know you love me, Chuck."

"I love you Sarah," Chuck told his wife firmly. Sensing the insecurity his wife was feeling at the moment, he added, "I like telling you I love you. Anytime you want me to reaffirm that to you, all you have to do is ask. No, let me rephrase that, I love telling you that I love you." Chuck reached around Sarah's waist and found her right hand with his and intertwined his fingers with hers, squeezing them to reassure his blonde angel.

Sarah turned her head slightly to gaze at her husband. Smiling, she softly whispered to him, "you're my hero."

 **Awesome and Ellie…**

Ellie, dressed in a white top and blue pajama bottoms, slipped into bed, carrying her father's laptop. Awesome emerged from the bathroom to take a quick peek at his wife as he brushed his teeth. Dressed only in a form fitting pair of boxers, Awesome returned to the bathroom to finish the task of brushing his teeth. Wiping his face after rinsing his mouth he spoke loud enough for his wife to hear, "you're looking hot there babe. Time limit on your dad's computer is twenty minutes. That's just long enough for me to do some abs and tri-blasters, you know, work up that sheen that gets you hot."

"Devon, just because Clara is sleeping with Mom tonight doesn't mean I'm in the mood. It's been a long day. I have a lot on my mind about Sarah's condition. All of our possessions are in Chicago. Our plans are on hold. How will we explain this to the hospital? Devon are you listening to me? Visual contact with my eyes would go a long way to convince me you are listening," Ellie called out.

"Ok, babe. I hear ya. It's just I am so turned on by my smokin' hot wife, who restored my bro's wife's memories today, gave Sarah her marriage back, and despite the fact we hate the spy life, the danger of it, for a little while we aren't going to be able to escape it. If you're not in the mood though, I will be a gentleman, though you may owe me morning sex when we wake up," Awesome said to his wife, winking at her.

Ellie smiled at her husband, tilting her head to express her affection, "I love you. If you rub my back you just might get some morning lovin'. But right now, I'm worried about Sarah. She's already displayed a memory gap. I am trying to determine if there is a way to track her memory loss and determine if these gaps are permanent and how spread out they are, if there is a pattern."

Awesome walked around to his wife's side of the bed and sat down, gazing at Ellie with concern mixed with love and admiration. "This is part of why I love you so much Ellie Woodcomb, but you have to not worry so much. What you did for Sarah, for Chuck, heck babe, for all of us, was nothing short of awesome. I mean really awesome. But as a physician, I have to remind you, in order for you to be at the level of awesomeness Sarah will need for you to treat her until her condition is resolved, you have to take care of yourself. Everyone in Castle is under tremendous stress, including you."

Gently, Devon took the laptop from Ellie, put it to sleep, closed it, and walked to the desk in their room, gently setting the computer down. Ellie watched as Devon turned the lights off and walked to his side of the bed, slipping between the covers. Without saying a word, she quickly snuggled against his side and closed her eyes. Within minutes she was asleep. Devon reached around the sleeping Ellie and pulled the covers up to her chin before putting his arm around her shoulders. He looked at the ceiling, realizing it would be a long time before their lives returned to anything close to normal, if indeed it was possible for that to happen.

 **Casey and Verbanski…**

"John, I am worried. It takes a lot to worry me, and the fact I'm worried is worrying me even more," Gertrude told Casey. She sat up in bed, wearing only one of Casey's green Buy More uniform shirts.

Casey, laying on his back wearing only his four-leaf clover boxers, was staring at a spot a thousand yards away in his mind, acknowledged her with a grunt. He turned to look at Verbanski, his face blank of emotion, sending chills of fear down Verbanski's spin. She hated when Casey pulled up his walls with her in private. She had learned it was his way of dealing with fear.

Slipping under the covers she snuggled up next to the NSA agent. "Casey?" He grunted as he put his arm around her. "Why are you putting up your perimeter defenses? It's just me, we're alone and you know I will never tell anyone," she said, imploring him to let her pass inside his emotional perimeter defenses.

"Taken by surprise. All of us. I've gotten soft. Bartowski's responsible. My job is to protect Chuck, Sarah, Alex, that moron Grimes, Ellie and Awesome. Have to think about Clara and Mary and she's hard to pin down," Casey mumbled, a single tear coming from his right eye. "Have to think about you, too. When it was just me, I focused on the mission. If I died, it was the for the greater good. So be it. Fear was something I just pushed aside like it didn't exist. But now? I feel the fear. What's wrong with me Gertrude? Why is this happening to me," Casey asked.

Tears fell from the stoic woman's eyes. The realization her beloved Colonel had opened himself emotionally to her in a way she'd not believed was possible. Unashamedly she sat up again. She wanted Casey to see her tears, to see she had let her perimeter defenses down as well. "I love you John."

Verbanski ran her fingers through Casey's hair as they gazed at each other. "You're feeling fear because now it's not just you. You have a daughter who loves you and whom you love. You're team is in danger and Sarah is not at full operative capacity. That means Chuck will be less protected and if Morgan has to act as a magnet the entire team is not at full operational strength. These people matter to you. It's your job to manage them tactically and protect them."

"Ellie, Awesome and little Clara are important. They treat our wounds and Ellie, let's face it, has to manage Chuck and Sarah's Intersects. Mary is family and a valuable operative. These people are not just agents or soldiers, John. They're your family."

Casey looked at Verbanski for a long time, remaining silent and expressionless as on the stoic agent could. He turned away, his gaze locked on the door to their room. "It's more than that," he whispered. "I have so much to lose that I never had before. It changes things. There's so much more at stake." Turning his head, Casey looked directly at Verbanski with his blue eyes, eyes burning with the intensity of a laser guiding a smart-munitions to its target. "I have never felt about anyone else like I do about you. That scares me to. I can't lose you Gertrude." Falling silent, he turned his gaze to the ceiling.

Gertrude, feeling and exhilarating mixture of fear and joy lay down next to her beloved sniper, resting on his strong and powerful body. Smiling, she whispered so only he could hear, "I love you my Colonel."

 **Morgan and Alex…**

"Are you going to have to do something dangerous? Don't lie to me Morgan. I can tell when you lie to me," Alex stated bluntly.

"Honey, sweetie, Alex, we're both tired. Let's go to bed. Everyone has been under tremendous stress these past few weeks. Besides, you're looking really hot in that t-shirt and I can see your lace panties," Morgan said as he moved his hand down towards Alex's bottom.

Alex quickly jumped off the bed and moved to the chair by the door, pulling down the t-shirt, making sure Morgan could not see anything he wanted to see. "Answer my question or consider yourself on restriction from adult activities Morgan Grimes."

"That's not fair. I'm a mature man. I have needs, needs that only you can satisfy. This is against the rules," Morgan whined.

Alex sat in silence, glaring at Morgan.

"Ok," Morgan in defeat, realizing he would not be able to change the subject. "Alex, you know what I do for a living, what I am. Managing the Buy More for Carmichael Industries is important because we need the revenue, but that's only part of my job." Morgan looked at the feisty redhead scowling at him. _This is not going to be easy. I have seen that expression on Casey's face too many times right before he strikes and there's no denying Alex is his daughter._

"Spill it Morgan."

Running his finger under the collar of his t-shirt, Morgan swallowed and then began to speak, "Casey is training me for field work. I run surveillance and handle Chuck and Sarah on missions, depending on the tactical situation."

"Morgan, answer my question."

"Now Alex, don't get mad. Promise me."

"Morgan, I won't promise anything. Now answer my question. I'm starting to lose my patience!

"I am your father's magnet. There, I said it. Casey thinks I could be the best magnet in the business. Do you know what that means to me? Me, Morgan Grimes, a loser who worked at Buy More, is Colonel John Casey's magnet. My real father left us when I was little. Big Mike's great as a step-father and a huge help running the Buy More, but I don't have a father. Didn't have, really, till Casey came along. He's my friend too."

Morgan looked away from Alex, "I'm getting emotional. You know Chuck is my best guy friend right? Then Sarah came along and she took my place. I was totally cool with it because Chuck and Sarah complete each other, and besides she's smokin' hot and really cool and she just makes Chuck so happy. How could I not step aside for her you know? But then, there was this void you know? Casey filled that void. He took me on missions even though he didn't want to. He trained me, helped me grow up. I have learned what it means to be a man. And Alex, this is really important to me, he gave me his blessing to make you happy, to be with you. Of course that blessing came with the implied understanding that he will break every bone in my body _**before**_ he starts the torture if I should ever hurt you. I'm part of something bigger than me now, and it's important I be there for my team. My team that serves the greater good. So, yes, I will be doing whatever Team Bartowski requires and if it is dangerous, so be it."

Alex looked at Morgan with a strange expression, confusing the little bearded man. Smiling, she stood up and walked over to Morgan, who was still sitting on the edge of the bed. Standing before him, she reached down for his hands. Hesitating Morgan offered them to her. Alex took his hands in hers and placed one on each side of her bottom, smiling sweetly at him. Releasing his hands she began to slowly pull her t-shirt up. With her firm, toned abdomen was exposed the t-shirt stopped. Alex spoke in a husky voice, "I love you. You are becoming one of the bravest men I know Morgan. That means a lot to me. But know this, if you don't come back to me alive, I will end you." The expression on her face gave Morgan little doubt Alex's words were a promise, not a threat.

Being a male moron, Morgan asked, "does this mean I am off restriction now?"

 **The next morning…**

One single, piercing scream shattered the slumber of all but one in Castle. In seconds, everyone in Castle was in the briefing room, their weapon of choice in hand save Alex and the Awesome family. Verbanski stood shaking in front of the main monitor.

Turning she looked at the group. "It's gone. Verbanski Industries is gone. My headquarters, training facilities, black sites, safe houses, my accounts. All gone! Someone has destroyed everything I've built." The tough as nails spy fainted, collapsing to the floor. Devon and Ellie rushed to examine her.

Casey turned to face Chuck and Sarah, speaking in his most hostile tone, speaking as the ruthless assassin, "someone is going to die for this!"


	12. Chapter 12 - Who is the Enemy?

Chapter 12 – Who is the Enemy

 **Disclaimer:** I don't own Chuck

Awesome entered the silent debriefing area to find everyone present, waiting for news about Verbanski. "Gertrude just fainted. Waking up and discovering her empire, her people, everything she'd built gone, well, who could blame her. Gertrude might be a super spy, but she's still human. If you want to talk to her, please limit to one person at a time and don't stay long or you'll feel the wrath of Ellie," Awesome warned.

Casey, who was still standing before the primary monitor reading the data about the collapse of Verbanski Industries, stood silent, unmoving. Feeling the eyes of everyone present bearing down on him, Casey turned to look over his shoulder at the expectant faces. After a brief moment he turned back to continue reading the reports on the screen.

Sarah and Alex both looked at each other from across the briefing table. Reaching an unspoken agreement, the two women stood and walked to Casey. Facing him with jaws clinched, chins thrust forward and hands on hips, the two emitted waves of female anger.

Casey looked from Alex to Sarah, puzzled by their sudden presence so close to him. He grunted, questioning them about their proximity and what they wanted. Sarah suddenly stomped the inside of his foot and shoved Casey in the direction of the corridor, shooting "now Casey!"

Hopping on one foot, Casey looked at Sarah as if she had lost her mind, demanding, "what is your problem Walker?"

"No excuses Casey! I don't want to hear about hating lady feelings either. Now man up!"

"Dad, she needs you. Go to her. It's OK," Alex said gently before suddenly uttering with great intensity, "if you know what's good for you Dad, go and be with Gertrude. We all need each other to be our best right now and she can't do that unless you support her."

Dumbfounded, confused by his rage at the perpetrators who had done this to Verbanski and his terror at the possibility of spending hours, if not days, helping Verbanski deal with her lady feelings, put his sore foot down and began hobbling towards the corridor.

Morgan fell in beside Casey and once the pair were out of earshot of the two angry females cut Casey off to stop the big man. "Hey, I get it. Lady feelings. You don't want to deal with them. I totally get it. But you're lucky. Verbanski doesn't like lady feelings either. Just be there for you lady and protect her while she lets her guard down for an hour or so. Then go straight to planning revenge you know, that'll make her feel better. You know, showing her you have her back and you're there for her. Talk about secret interrogation skills and tactics, alternate black sites to take prisoners, you know, spy stuff."

Casey looked at Morgan in confusion. "Really, you think that would help?"

"Casey, we live in a different world so to speak. You and Gertrude have emotions and feelings just like the rest of us. You just have a different love language than most people. What the two of you find disturbing and unpleasant, lady feelings, the rest of us think are normal. What the two of you don't understand is that you both have lady feelings, just wait Casey, no need to get violent, let me explain big guy. You and Gertrude have a different kind of lady feelings, a different love language. She needs for you to tell her about how you've zeroed in the new sniper rifle she gave you and how you're going to use it to take down the bad guys who did this."

"You think this is what she needs," Casey asked hopefully. "Because you know I'm going to hurt the people who did this to her."

"Yeah, yeah, that's it. That's what Gertrude needs to know. She needs to feel your anger towards these perps. C'mon, lets go the armory now and get your new rifle and maybe a couple of other guns. Yeah, and lots of ammo, take her to the shooting range for some therapeutic shooting, just the two of you." Morgan steered his big friend towards the armory, a look of relief on his face as Casey began selecting firearms.

 **In the briefing room…**

"How bad is it," Mary asked.

"Pretty bad," Sarah sad grimly. "Her main facility has been destroyed. No exact body count yet, but reports are there has been heavy loss of life. From the satellite images I've been able to gather, it looks like her black sites and safe houses have been blown up in what looks like gas fires or burned, arson I'm sure."

Chuck took a swig from the bottle of champagne by his monitor and looked up. "I've hacked into Verbanski's accounts. They're empty. I've traced the transfers to Russia but they vanish in China and Germany. Who ever did this hack is brilliant."

"To take down Gertrude's empire in one night takes a tremendous amount of skill and power. There are government agencies that could not pull this off. What we're dealing with is serious," Mary said grimly.

Chuck stood from his computer desk to face everyone in the briefing room. Wearing a grim expression he stated plainly, "This is worse than Fulcrum, the Ring or Volkoff. I wonder if there is a connection between the people after Sarah and me and the collapsing of Verbanski Industries. If there is, we're all in a great deal of danger, and we might be in this alone."

 **In the clinic…**

Casey poked his head in through the entrance to the clinic. Morgan leaned just far enough for his face to appear from behind the bigger man. Neither said a word. After several minutes, Ellie looked up to find the pair still standing in silence. "Casey, please, come in. Gertrude is resting now but I am sure she'll want to wake and talk with you. Morgan, out! Don't stay too long John, "Ellie commanded. "I'll leave the two of you alone so you can talk in private and I'll keep the little bearded pest away."

Casey tentatively walked into the clinic, his sniper rifle slung over his shoulder and a tactical bag in his left hand. Slowly he walked over the bed where Verbanski lay. Gently he touched her arm and waited for her to awake.

Minutes passed in silence as Casey looked down at Verbanski, his heart breaking for his sweetheart. _She may have lost her empire, but I will never let her lose me. If I die in the process, the scumbags responsible for hurting her will feel my wrath._

Casey's silent vigil was broken when Gertrude spoke, "John, you brought your rifle."

"Yes. I am ready to hunt. I just need intel. Who ever did this is evil. They are a threat to all of us, but most of all to you. I am going to end them," he declared.

Verbanski smiled and sat up, reaching for Casey. "Hold me Colonel. Hold me for a few minutes. Then it will be time to meet with the others to begin planning."

Holding Verbanski close Casey whispered, "I brought several pistols and plenty of ammo. I thought you might feel better if we went to the shooting range for a little while. Then, when you feel better, we can meet with the team."

"Colonel, you are such a thoughtful man. That's just what I need."

 **Three hours later…**

Chuck stood before the assembled group in order to sum up their discussion. "So everyone agrees, we have to obtain more intel than what we have. I'll hack into area police reports in regards to the two Carmichael Industries safe houses. Since Verbanski has lost control of her two satellites and our one remaining one will not pass over any primary Verbanski Industries facilities for another five hours, I suggest we contact General Beckman for intel. Any comments?"

Sarah spoke up quickly, "We can trust General Beckman, but can we trust the agency? I suggest we have Morgan contact Beckman with none of us present in the debriefing room and Morgan, well, Morgan should act like he normally does when he talks to the General. She'll act annoyed and the link quickly, but if Morgan tells her the right things, she'll know what intel we need. We can watch the video after the transmission and see if Beckman is able to signal us undetected like she has in the past."

Chuck surveyed the group and announced "agreed. Everyone leave and take a break. Casey, set everything up for the link up and to record it. Sarah, write a short script for Morgan to work from. Morgan, feel like yanking the good General's chain?"

 **Thirty minutes later…**

Morgan, now dressed in his Buy More manager's suit, stood before the camera and primary video monitor in the briefing room. All other members of Team Bartowksi were either out of view or in their quarters.

Morgan hit the enter key on the laptop on the briefing table, sending the transmission signal to Beckman's office. Within seconds Beckman's image appeared. As customary, the General was working at her desk. Morgan drew in a sharp breath, shocked at the General's appearance. She looked more stressed than when Morgan had last seen her, sitting atop a bomb in the concert hall.

Smiling, he started into his rehearsed speech, hoping to sound and appear as annoying as he normally did when he contacted the general. "Hey Dianne! You're looking great. You look much less tense, I mean more relaxed, than when we last chatted, though I could probably say that about anyone, I mean sitting on top of a bomb would make anyone tense."

"What do you want Grimes," the General barked.

Morgan promptly let loose with a torrent of words, "just to talk General. It's lonely here. Big Mike more or less runs the cover operation of the Buy More so I don't have a lot to do as manager. Casey is off stalking Gertrude, and if I may General, those two have a strange love life. Chuck and Sarah are trying to sort things out so they're never here anymore. Jeffster are on tour. Awesome and Ellie are in Chicago with Clara and Alex is job-hunting now that she's done with college. Until Casey gets back I don't have anyone here to work with me on my training. So, I just thought I would call to chat, see if you had any books to suggest I read, preferably movies to watch, you know, specific Bond flicks, maybe some Jason Bourne stuff, that would help me pick up a few spy pointers. What do you say General?"

"Grimes, good bye!"

"Wow! Did you see Dianne? Some thing is up. She was way stressed out. She's never that abrupt with me. I can usually get in one or two more comments before she hangs up. Did ya'll pick up anything on the video replay," Morgan rambled.

Casey barked, "Shut up Grimes. Give us a chance to analyze the video."

 **One hour later…**

"It's not Morse code like last time, but there is definitely a pattern in her finger movement. Beckman is definitely trying to tell us something. What do you think, Casey?"

"Yep. She knows something."

"Chuck, run it through our database and see if you can pick up something that way, we need to know what Beckman is trying to tell us," Sarah suggested.

"Well, here goes nothing. Let's see what we come up with. Enter."

 **Two hours later…**

"Well I'll be, who knew Beckman understood Enigma coding with out an Enigma machine. The old gal is smarter than I thought," Casey said. "Message is simple. Courier en route. Provide cover upon arrival."

 **Five hours later…**

"Casey, Chuck, look, over by the LargeMart, that's an agency car if I ever saw one."

"Where Sarah?"

"I see it Bartowski. Dark blue sedan. He's wearing a black suit, sunglasses, you know standard Government attire. Where's Grimes?"

"Grimes here. What are my orders?"

"Meet the courier as he enters the Buy More. I'll be in position on the roof for backup."

 **Five minutes later…**

Morgan stood patiently just inside the Buy More entrance, greeting customers as they entered and thanking them for shopping at Buy More as the left. He anxiously watched the courier approach. The courier had first entered the LargeMart then Underpants, Etc. and was now making his way towards the Buy More.

The sound of screeching tires ended Morgan's polite interaction with customers as he rushed through the entrance. A black Chevy Suburban raced past the courier, a hail of bullets coming from the windows, cutting the courier down. The Suburban came to a sudden halt by the dead courier, a black clad gunman quickly stepping out to search the dead courier's body. Just as quickly a shot rang out from the top of the Buy More and the gunman's head exploded. More shots rang out, piercing the windows of the Suburban. Blood splattered on what remained of the glass. The driver sped off, leaving the dead gunman lying next to the courier.

Morgan ran to the two dead bodies, "shouting, somebody call the paramedics. Call the police." Quickly he began searching the two bodies. In the courier's pocket he found a small black case that he quickly pocketed. He removed the courier's wallet and badge, leaving no trace of identity for the dead man. Moving to the dead gunman, he found nothing in his pockets other than additional clips of ammunition for a 9 mm Glock.

Turning up his long sleeves, Morgan saw a tattoo. Not recognizing the emblem displayed, he quickly pulled out his iPhone and photographed it before pulling the sleeve back down. Despite the fact both men were dead, Morgan began chest compressions on the courier.

Within minutes the police and paramedics arrived, relieving Morgan of his efforts. Silently, Morgan slipped through the gathering crowd into the Orange Orange and made his way to Castle.

"Sarah, I retrieved this from the courier," quickly handing her the black case. "Chuck, I took this photo of a tattoo on the gunman. See if you can flash on it. I'll e-mail it to you."

Shaking from the adrenaline rush, Morgan sat down. "Good work Grimes. The Suburban was waiting for the courier. He never had a chance," Casey mumbled.

Chuck look at the photo of the tattoo. The tattoo appeared to be a replica of an ancient Roman battle standard. Chuck shook his head in frustration, "I'm getting nothing, no flash. This symbol is not in the intersect."

Sarah opened the case and withdrew a small memory stick. Quickly inserting it into her computer she found four files. The first three were photographs. The third was an encrypted file. She promptly had her computer begin to decrypt. In minutes the computer was done and Sarah printed the results.

"Beckman sent cleaners to our two safe houses. They found nothing at the beach house or the forest where Chuck and I were attacked. The beach house had been torched. The cleaners did find to badly mauled bodies at the mountain safe house. Both were killed by head-shots and their bodies were found at the base of a cliff. Evidently when Casey shot them, they fell down the cliff. Wild animals had been feeding on their remains. Who ever sent those men up there had already cleaned the site. The mountain house was also torched.

One of the bodies was identified as a member of a militia group from Montana but little is known about the individual. Six months of military service and a dishonorable discharge. Couple of stints in county for public drunkenness and that's it. Wannabe mercenary."

Sarah paused. "There's more. Beckman says a German team inspected one of Verbanski's black sites. The report says her people fought to the end to protect the site. All of the bodies of who ever attacked the site were removed. They left Verbanski's people. Evidently the combat went to hand-to-hand because the Germans found a body of one of the attackers beneath a dead agent, combat knife in the attacker's chest. The attacker had a tattoo. They sent a photo.

Beckman says not to contact her again. She's under covert surveillance and she doesn't know who it is. Looks like this is all the help she will be able to give us."

Chuck looked at the screen of Sarah's computer. "Sarah, open those three image files."

A quick click and the files opened. The images were of tattoos similar to the one Morgan had photographed.

The entire group looked at the images, pondering what the tattoos represented.

"This much is obvious," Mary stated, "these people are all part of the same group. This is a global threat."

Casey stepped closer to the monitor and squinted. Sarah, noticing Casey's expression asked, "Casey, do you recognize something?"

"It's typical of a battle standard of the Roman Legions," he said. Turning to face the team, Casey gave a grunt of deep concern. "I have an idea of what we might be facing. Neo-Fascists."

"Neo-Nazis?" Alex asked.

"No. Not exactly. But the fascist movements in the 1930s all had standards similar to this design and the Nazis in particular held standards such as this one to be sacred. The Italian Blackshirts dreamed of restoring the Roman Empire. The Nazis wanted to rule Europe, to obtain Lebensraum, or living space. You know, the Third Reich. This symbol is similar but different. It has elements of fascism in the design, but none of the symbols of the Nazis or the Italian Blackshirts." Casey's expression turned grim before he continued. "Who ever this, it's a group of elitists. There will likely be some kind of religious cult aspect to this as well, similar to the practices of the Waffen SS."

Looking at the shocked expressions of his partners Casey added, "this is worse than bad."


	13. Chapter 13 - The Return of Agent Walker

**Chapter 13 – The Return of Agent Walker**

 **Disclaimer** – Don't own Chuck. Waiting for the Chuck Movie!

 **2:23 am**

The ceiling had not changed in the past hour. Nor would staring at it for another hour help Sarah overcome the intense emotions keeping her awake. Guilt, stress, angst, anxiety, fear, all of them at once had kept Sarah's mind from relaxing enough for her to fall asleep. Not even curling up and listening to Chuck breath as she lay in his arms, resting her head on his chest had helped Sarah unwind enough to sleep.

With care she extracted herself from Chuck's grasp and slowly slipped from their bed. Wrapping the robe she had tossed on the floor around herself, she walked to Chuck's side of the bed, pausing a moment to gaze at her husband before bending over and lightly kissing his forehead.

 **3:46 am**

The image of the black vans backing from the warehouse confirmed the results of the satellite image hunt Sarah had conducted. Having tracked both the SUV and the vans from the ambush at the mountain safehouse, she was certain the facility was in use by the group hunting them.

Writing the GPS coordinates down, Sarah set the pen down. The shame and guilt began to overwhelm her again as she stared at the image of the facility. Whoever this group was, her inability to remember, to trust, had hindered her ability to protect Chuck, her team, family and friends, placing them all in grave danger. Their lives had been disrupted. Ellie, Awesome, Clara and Mary had gone to Chicago to start new lives. Casey was stalking Verbanski in order to pursue a relationship with her. Morgan and Alex were working things out.

Chuck. Her beloved Chuck. They were going to start a family. She was going to be a mother. The danger of the spy life was to be replaced with fighting cybercrime and providing security expertise to clients who needed to protect assets, human or physical. More taco nights in and less bullets and explosives. Even Casey was ready to slow down a little.

It was all her fault. If she had resisted the temptation and not uploaded the faulty intersect, giving Quinn the opportunity he needed, none of this would have happened. She would have never had the memory lapse that allowed this unknown enemy to threaten Chuck, the lives of her friends and family.

It was her fault.

It was her responsibility.

She would not allow anyone else to be at risk.

Sarah would resolve this by herself.

 **4:24 am**

Moving silently, Sarah climbed the stairs to the Orange Orange exit. Casey would be awake in minutes and she had to be gone. Silently she set down on of the two black bags she was carrying to open the security door. Dressed in black tactical gear and armed with grenades, a pair of her favorite Glocks, knives and a HK MK-5, she moved quickly and silently through the door, retrieved the second bag, closed the door and secured it. After setting the alarm, Sarah left the building, walking quickly to a black, unmarked Carmichael Industries SUV. She loaded her equipment in the back storage area and climbed into the drivers seat, buckling herself in. As Sarah expected, a quick survey of the area indicated no one present. _Who besides a crazy spy like me would be up this early in Burbank?_

 **5:08 am**

Already dressed in his Buy More attire, Casey walked slowly into the meeting room, his favorite mug, decorated with pistols, filled with hot coffee. Sitting at his workstation, Casey flicked on his computer, logged in and navigated to the Drudge Report to see what the lefties were up to in the world. A quick scan revealed nothing major had happened in the world while he slept. _Well, looks like this day will be spent looking for intel on our newest nemesis._

Turning in his chair, Casey noticed Walker's chair was not pushed in and her monitor was not turned off. _That's odd. Walker always leaves her monitor off and her chair pushed up to her desk. She never leaves anything out of place in her workspace when she's done._

Quickly Casey examined her work area. _Nothing seems to be missing. Maybe this is just a quirk of her having just regained all of her memories. Need to tell Ellie when she wakes up._

 **7:00 am**

The painful sound of the alarm clock went off, jarring Chuck into a semi-conscious state.

"Sarah, did you really have to set the alarm last night? It's not like we had to get up and rush somewhere this morning," he mumbled, still mostly asleep.

Feeling for his wife beside him, Chuck began patting the bed. Noticing Sarah was not in bed, Chuck sat up in bed. Rubbing sleep from his eyes, he got up and tiptoed to the bathroom, hoping to surprise a still sleepy Sarah, disregarding the danger of doing so. Noting she was not in the bathroom, Chuck proceeded with his morning duties.

With his morning hair pointing in every direction, Chuck left their bedroom and shuffled down the corridor to the eating area. "Sarah, Sweetie, you cooking breakfast? Eggs and bacon is not necessary. I can eat cereal this morning."

"Bartowski, Walker's not up. At least I haven't seen her."

"What? Casey, you haven't seen her?" Chuck began a quick search the common area, work areas and briefing are before moving into the armory. "Casey, her HK MP-5 is gone! Her Glocks and a bunch of her tactical gear! Casey, she's gone!"

Chuck ran to the surveillance system. A quick check of the past few hours showed nobody leaving, or entering, the facility. Typing quickly, Chuck pulled up the code for the system as Casey watched over his shoulder. "She's looped the feed. Sarah left Castle sometime while we were all asleep."

 **The Coastal Highway…**

The windows down, Sarah felt the tension slowly leaving her body as she sped down the Coastal Highway. The wind blowing in her hair, she thought of past missions with Chuck and Casey and smiled. It was good to have her memories back. Well, most of her memories. Enough of her memories.

By this time tomorrow she would have some answers.


	14. Chapter 14 - Sarah Strikes Alone

**Chapter 14 – Sarah Strikes Alone**

 **Disclaimer:** Still don't own Chuck.

 **Sunset somewhere on the Northern California Coastline…**

 _I'm not making the mistake of wearing all black during the day again. I have got to smell like a locker room by now._ Adjusting her binoculars again, Sarah wiped sweat from around her eyes before making one final survey of the facility. Five armed males dressed in matching paramilitary style clothing had entered through a door near the freight dock area. No other entrances to the building were visible besides the single door and a pair of freight doors for trucks to unload or load.

 _Not smart. Unless they have an underground means of entering the building, those three doors are the only way in or out of the building. Whoever controls those doors controls access to the entire building. No way in or out._

Slowly Sarah moved back from the edge of the ridge. Once out of the line of sight from the building she stood and walked to the small trees growing near the steep cliff. Taking shelter from setting sun, she drank a bottle of water and repeatedly wiped sweat from her face and forehead. Opening one of her bags she withdrew a clean black outer shirt and undershirt. Quickly removing the sweat drenched clothing, Sarah slipped on the dry clothing.

As soon as the sun set and the night was dark enough, Sarah would begin her approach.

 **Castle…**

Casey stood watching. Verbanski had been sitting at the armory's repair table for over half an hour, staring in silence at the wall before her. Since the news of the collapse of her empire, her life in many ways, Gertrude had withdrawn from the others in Castle.

Of all the different reactions to the news her empire, Verbanski Industries, being destroyed, this reaction was not one Casey would have anticipated. Nor was it a reaction he understood.

Casey wanted to strike out, to punish, no kill the individual responsible. Everyone who helped would also receive the same punishment. Frustrated at the lack of intel to identify the guilty individual and the need to remain in Castle until more was known was making Casey's trigger feel the proverbial "itch."

Now this. If Gertrude had been in a blind rage, breaking things, shooting things, attacking him physically even, Casey could have dealt with any of these behaviors. He understood anger, rage.

Gertrude reached up to her eye and wiped something from her face. The movement heightened Casey's senses as he sought to understand what he was seeing. And then it happened. Silent tears flowed from her eyes and she let them fall.

Fear, an emotion Casey seldom felt, began to settle in his stomach then slowly spread throughout his body. This was a side of Gertrude he had never seen before and it was one that surprised him. Lady feelings on display and she wasn't even fighting to control her emotions.

 _Man up. Deal with it. She's no worse than Bartowski and you've learned to deal with him. Have to be there for Gertrude._

Casey moved in complete silence into the armory. Without drawing attention to himself he sat next to Verbanski. After several minutes passed he reached over and gently touched her arm. Slowly her lips formed the faintest trace of a smile.

"John."

"Yes."

"It's not the money."

"I know."

"It's not the buildings."

"I know."

"It's my people. They hurt my people."

"We'll make them pay, just as soon as we know who did this, we'll make them pay."

"Yes, John, we will."

 **Nightfall in Northern California…**

The wind blew across the empty parking lot. Sarah used her night vision glasses for one final visual sweep before beginning her approach to the building. Nothing moved other than grass swaying in the wind. A final examination of her equipment calmed her nerves as she focused on the route Sarah had planned for her approach. _Just like old times before you came to Burbank. Nobody to help. Nobody to cause problems. In. Out. You can do this Walker._

Emerging from the scrub brush, staying in the shadows, Sarah stood and listened. Hearing only the sounds of the wind, she began her approach.

Five minutes later Sarah had covered the twenty-five yards and knelt before the door, examining the lock and security system. Minutes later her equipment packed back in her backpack, Sarah soundlessly opened the door and entered, closing the door behind her.

Sitting around a card table between the two freight entrances, Sarah could see three of the five men were laughing and drinking as they played cards under the entrance light.. The other two men were nowhere to be seen.

The dim light allowed her to make out the scared features of the tallest of the three who sat leaning his chair back against the wall. To his left sat the smaller of the other two men, smoking a cigarette as he looked at his cards. The third man sat with his back to her, his long blonde hair tied in a ponytail, hanging from under the same cap she had earlier seen all five men wearing.

Taking a drag on his cigarette, the small guard looked around the dim, silent facility before speaking to his companions, "I will be glad when we get outta here tonight."

"Yep. This job gives me the creeps. Makes me regret signing on."

Putting out his cigarette in the ashtray on the table, the smoker looked at the larger of the three men, pausing for a moment before asking, "Big John, what do you think they plan on using these for?"

Leaning his chair forward the largest of the three men looked at the other two, scratching his scared face. "I don't know and to be honest, I don't care. It's creepy, and if you ask me, nothing good can come of this. The one in that fourth box really gives me the willies."

Sarah reached into a pocket on her utility pants and withdrew a small camera. Using infrared it was capable of taking excellent photos in dimly lit surroundings. After taking photos of the three men the camera was returned to the pocket.

Moving deeper into the building, Sarah began her search for the other two men. On the far side of the facility she noticed what appeared to be an office area. The blinds to the windows were drawn but a light appeared to be on. Moving along the east wall, staying in the shadows, Sarah began making her way towards the office.

With no warning the door opened and two men walked out, the second turning the light off. Both walked at an easy pace towards the three playing cards. One of the three appeared to be wearing an insignia of some sort on his shoulder, indicating he was the leader of the group.

As the pair approached the three men playing cards, the leader spoke calmly. "We just got the call. Time to load up and deliver these to the coordinates they gave us. As far as I am concerned, we can't get this job done soon enough so lets get these loaded and get out of here."

The second of the pair from the office looked at the blonde haired man. "Is everything wired?"

Blondie responded, "yes. I made sure I used more C-4 than necessary. I don't ever want to come back to this place. All the machinery in the underground bunker will be destroyed, the bunker collapsed and this entire building will collapse. Thermite will set it all on fire. There will be no trace of what went on here."

Sarah moved closer to the five men, retrieving the camera from her pocket as she advanced. All five moved towards the five large containers behind the eighteen-wheeler's trailer. The cigarette smoker walked to a nearby forklift and started the engine while the large man opened the rear door of the trailer.

One by one, each of the coffin-sized containers was lifted by the forklift and placed in the trailer. The other men moved the containers inside the trailer and secured them to prevent movement during transport.

The entire process took only minutes and Sarah captured everything on the camera. Good images of the faces of all five of the men were now stored on the camera's disc. The large man climbed up into the cab of the truck and started the engine. The leader spoke to the other men. Sarah, unable to hear what was said over the engine noise, used the opportunity to move undetected in the direction of the office.

From the shadows she saw the other three men make their way to the vehicle they had arrived in. Both freight doors opened and the two vehicles exited, the doors closing automatically behind them.

Knowing she had minutes to act, Sarah sprinted to the office and kicked the door open. Flicking on the light she quickly scanned the office. Empty except for two desks, she grabbed the trashcan, dumping the few pieces of paper it contained on the desk closest to the door. Moving with as much speed as possible, Sarah rifled the two desks, removing every paper, pad and object, placing all of them on the first desk.

When both desks were empty, she removed her backpack, opened it and brushed all of the items on the desktop into her pack with one fluid sweep of her arm. Closing her pack she dashed from the room, leaving the lights on, sprinting to the exit.

Pulling her Glock-17 from her belt, Sarah burst through the door, slowing enough to visually sweep the area before continuing her sprint towards the ridge where her vantage point was. In the distance she saw the truck followed by a black SUV stopping at the point where the secondary road entered the highway.

Behind her the sound of explosions began to deafen her as flames shot into the sky. The blast wave lifted Sarah off her feet and threw her to the foot of the ridge. Landing on her side, she could see the towering flames as they lifted towards the night sky. Lifting her head, Sarah struggled to focus. It was a losing battle as the darkness seemed to swallow her.


	15. Chapter 15 - A Possible Lead

**Chapter 15 – The Mystery Weapons**

 **Disclaimer:** Still don't own Chuck

Waking up covered in sweat is never a pleasant experience. Especially when you have a headache and your body aches from being tossed thirty feet into weeds and shrubs. Sarah rolled over on her back and slowly opened her eyes, taking stock of her injuries. Discovering nothing seemed to be broken, she surveyed the surrounding area from her hidden location in a clump of scrub brush and weeds near the cliff.

A mere hundred yards away the building she had escaped from was a smoldering ruin. Fire trucks and police vehicles were scattered about the area. Exhausted firemen surveyed the damage as they finished putting out the remaining small fires. The police had already begun stringing up crime scene tape and the arson unit had set up a tent to serve as the command post for the investigation of what certainly had to be a crime scene.

To avoid her inevitable discovery, Sarah gathered her equipment and backpack and began to slowly make her way towards the narrow path she had used to descend the steep cliff. Within an hour she had made her way to the vantage point to survey the now destroyed warehouse complex. Gathering the equipment she had left behind, Sarah limped the half mile to where her vehicle was hidden.

Loading her gear in back, she turned to take a final look at the scene of her narrow escape. _This is serious. Whatever was in that facility is a serious risk, a threat to someone. Why else would they utterly destroy their building?_

In the distance a sudden explosion took place, causing Sarah to turn and once again view the destroyed building. Firemen were running from perimeter of what remained of the building. Without warning, the ground surrounding the structure's remains began to crack and shift as a hole developed beneath the remains, swallowing it as if a giant mouth had opened and was closing around the ruins.

The wind shifted, blowing the dust and smoke in her direction, jarring Sarah from the shock of what she had just seen. Moving to the driver's door, Sarah got in, buckled her safety harness, started the engine and drove the SUV from its hiding place. Checking for traffic in the distance, Sarah noticed the Highway Patrol had stopped all traffic on the highway before it could reach the secondary road to the destroyed building. Driving slowly to avoid attracting policed attention, Sarah merged on to the highway to begin her trip south to return to Castle.

 **Castle…**

Morgan sat at his workstation. All of his monitors were on, each displaying a different TV news broadcast of the now collapsed and smoldering ruin of the building. The information the talking heads from the studios provided no information of value and the video from the helicopter had been pooled for all of the networks and was now being replayed in a loop.

Chuck sat next to Morgan, a worried expression on his face.

"Nothing? Did you flash on anything?"

"No buddy. Maybe it was just an unfortunate industrial accident. Let's hope the workers were all gone when the fire started."

A grunt caused the pair to turn and look up. Casey stood watching the monitors with his arms folded.

"That was a professional job. Notice how the remains collapsed into the center instead of being scattered. This allows the fire to consume more material, to destroy more evidence. The arson reports will have forensic evidence indicating thermite was used to generate more heat. Whoever did this is skilled with explosives." Not saying another word Casey turned and left, leaving Chuck and Morgan alone.

"Casey is right Chuck. This had to be done by a professional. Either ex-military or a demolition expert, you know, one of those guys who blows up sports stadiums and causes them to collapse in on themselves."

"Morgan, we to search to see who would have the skills to do this kind of job." With that, each began to type the parameters of a search on their keyboards, ignoring the news broadcasts.

"Chuck, it'll be OK. She'll be back. Sarah has her memories. She'll be back. She took weapons and tactical gear with her. She's a badass superspy. I promise you your lady Valkyrie was not anywhere near this explosion."

"I know. But why didn't she leave a note? Why hasn't she called?"

 **At a hotel north of LA…**

Exhausted, hungry and feeling desperately alone, Sarah unlocked the door to her hotel room. She sat down on the bed and began unwrapping the cheeseburger she had just purchased from the hamburger joint across the road from the hotel. Smiling, Sarah pulled up her pants leg and pulled a knife from her leg scabbard. A pleasant memory came to mind, the time Chuck had brought her a cheeseburger, with extra pickles. They had shared them in her hotel room after the mission to her high school reunion. It was a happy memory.

Sarah picked up her camera and her iPhone, debating the risk of sending the photo files via phone to Chuck. Uncertain if their communications equipment had been compromised, Sarah decided security and safety were more important than preventing Chuck from worrying. She could not take a chance and give away the location of Castle because of a compromised communication link. Chuck, her family and friends, her team, had all been put at too much risk because of her memory loss. No, a few hours sleep and she would make her way safely back to Castle. That would be soon enough.

Picking up her camera, Sarah slowly looked at each image, stopping suddenly at the image clearly depicting the face of the man with long blonde hair. Suddenly her eyes twitched, images began flashing through her mind, all of them related to the blonde man. As quickly as it started, the flash stopped, leaving Sarah gasping to catch her breath.

 _Frederick Mueller, ex-Bundeswehr, Combat Engineer, demolitions expert, known mercenary._

 _Two hours sleep, no more, then I'll be rested enough. This is important. We finally have an identity to track._

Sarah finished her cheeseburger and cleaned the room. Carefully she packed everything into her backpack and set it by the side of the bed. Checking her Glock-17, she set the alarm and then slowly lay down, facing the door. Fatigue, pain and loneliness overcame her. Sleep came in minutes.

 **Later at Castle…**

The perimeter warning sensors sounded the alarm. Casey switched monitor views until he located the view of the entrance to the closed Orange Orange. A sense of relief flooded him. Walker had entered the yogurt store and was securing the door and resetting the alarm system. Her tactical gear was by her feet.

"Bartowski. Walker's in the Orange Orange. Appears to be uninjured."

Running down the corridor to the meeting area, Chuck took the stairs to the Orange Orange entrance two at a time, shouting, "Sarah, Sarah! Oh, am I glad you're back. Oh, are you ever in so much hot water!"

The door opened and a dirty, tired Sarah entered, dropping all of her bags and equipment on the landing. Chuck jumped the last three steps and grabbed Sarah, taking her into a bear hug, squeezing her tight to his chest. Sarah wrapped her arms around Chuck, feeling the safety and protection his embrace provided her.

Breaking the embrace, Chuck held Sarah at arms length, one hand on each of her shoulders. Her blonde hair was in a simple ponytail, strands having escaped, giving her a disheveled appearance. Scrapes covered her forehead, an ugly bruise was forming on her left cheek.

"I could break your neck for leaving without me! Where have you been? Why didn't you contact me?"

With her eyes tilted to the floor, Sarah shuffled her feet from side-to-side, avoiding Chuck's angry gaze. "Chuck, as you are well aware, I can handle myself in the field."

Sarah moved closer to Chuck and put her arms around his waist, placing her head on his chest. "I'm sorry," she whispered. Looking up to take in Chuck's angry stare, Sarah returned his glare with an emotionless expression. "I had to do this. Alone. I have hurt the people I love so much, placed them in danger. I know I'm still Sarah Bartowski, your wife. I know Jenny is still here. I had to know if I can still be Agent Walker. I had to Chuck."

Understanding began to show on Chuck's face. "Like when I couldn't run in Prague."

The corners of Sarah's mouth turned up in a small smile as she nodded. Chuck understood.

"I have intel."


	16. Chapter 16 - The Hunt Begins

**Chapter 16 – The Hunt Begins**

 **Disclaimer:** Don't own Chuck

Casey worked his way through various satellite images till he found the truck Sarah had seen leaving the now destroyed facility. Chuck examined each image Sarah had taken as well as the video, looking to flash on any of the information. Other than the mercenary Frederick Mueller Sarah had identified, Chuck did not flash. Verbanski and Morgan were busily engaged in searches to determine who owned the destroyed facility and any additional information concerning Mueller.

Mary sat and stared at an image of the containers, not saying a word as she disassembled and reassembled a Glock-17 without looking. _This is bad. It is as if my nightmares have come true._

 **An hour later…**

The team had assembled in the briefing room to share information. Chuck stood and faced his team. "Casey?"

"I've located the truck. It is still in transit. I have a satellite track on it. It's headed across the desert in Nevada."

"Sarah?"

"Nothing more than what I already flashed on. The German mercenary Frederich Mueller. Ex-Bundeswehr. Combat Engineer. Explosives and demolition expert. He definitely had the skill to collapse that building."

"Verbanski?"

"Nothing but a trail of shell companies. The trail goes cold in the Caymans. I have no idea who owned that facility."

"Morgan?"

"Like Sarah said, Mueller is ex-Bundeswehr. Good record. Struggled to find work after his discharge. Must have liked military life because after seven months as a civilian he hired out with a PMC and went to Afghanistan. Bounced around to a couple of different companies after that. Specializes in demolition. Good record with every company he contracted with. Then about two years ago he just dropped off the face of the earth. No criminal record. No bank account we can track."

"Mom?"

"I have never seen anything quite like those containers before. I have seen the photos of the container Bryce Larkin was in but that was a life support container. These are similar but it's like they are designed as containment devices as well. It's as if these containers are for both life support and a portable prison cell. I have a bad feeling about what is inside those containers."

"I agree with Mary. These men were afraid of what was inside the containers. If Mueller is any indication of the type of men I saw, these are not amateurs like the ones sent to kill Chuck and me at Malibu and the two safe houses. These men are hardened, professional mercenaries. They won't frighten easily. If the content of those containers frightens them, it is something dangerous," Sarah added.

"Suggestions?"

"Prepare for a strike. When the truck arrives we should be ready to strike as soon as possible. Either to gather intel or to destroy the contents of those containers."

"Casey, we don't have any idea where the truck is headed."

"Bartowski, we can prepare now, be on our plane and in the air. When it arrives we jump. If we can pre-determine its destination, we jump and set an ambush."

"Anyone besides me think Casey is being a little too aggressive?"

"We need an extraction strategy. Plan for a retreat if necessary. John's right. We need to be aggressive on this. Don't give the enemy time to prepare. Strike while they believe they are safe. Chuck, we need to get going now."

"Gertrude's with Casey. Anyone else want to comment? Sarah?"

"How many facilities can there be in Nevada, Chuck? I say we load up everything we could possibly need and get airborne. Develop our plan while we're in the air."

"Ugh, I would like to interject here. I don't know how to parachute out of a plane Chuck."

"Grimes, I'll just toss you out. Make sure you pull the rip cord."

"Ugh, Casey, Alex might not like that approach."

Grunt. "Time to man-up Grimes."

Feeling the withering effect of Casey's glare, Morgan nervously swallowed. "I'll let you break the details of the plan to Alex then. I'm in."

"Mom?"

"I don't know. We don't know what is in those containers. I say we wait till we have more intel."

"I agree with Mom. Looks like it's 4 to 2."

Sarah stood and walked to Chuck. Taking his hand she pulled him to the common eating area. "Chuck, this isn't a democracy. You have to make the decision. This might be our best chance to find out who is behind the attacks. This is a clear national security risk. From a business perspective, we could earn a handsome finders fee for the information from the U.S. Government. Beckman, if she's able would see to it. Chuck, I know we decided we wanted to get away from this sort of thing before Quinn happened. But can we start a family with this hanging over our heads? I want to feel safe when I become a mother. I won't raise a child on the run, always looking over my shoulder."

Sarah wrapped her arms around Chuck and pulled herself tight against his chest, seeking the comfort of being held by Chuck. "I will do what you decide. You're my husband and the leader of our team. I've said my piece." She looked up into her husband's eyes as Chuck held her and gazed downwards at his blonde angel. "I trust you."

Chuck nodded in response. Taking Sarah by her hand, he led her back into the meeting area. Facing his team with a look of grim determination, Chuck drew himself to his full height. "We're going. Pack up."

 **Two hours later…**

Ellie held a crying Clara on her hip, tears running down her face. Alex stood with her arms crossed and her eyes puffy from crying. The glare fixed on her face made it clear the tiny redhead was not happy, with Morgan or her father.

She walked across the seemingly abandoned hangar and pulled on Morgan and Casey's arms from behind, yanking the pair around. "Morgan Grimes, if you don't come back to me alive, I will kill you and then dance on your grave. Dad, if you don't come back alive, and bring Morgan back alive with you, I will end you, slowly, and then dance on both of your graves. Do I make myself clear?"

Having said made her point, Alex walked back to where Ellie stood and reached her arms out to take Clara. Ellie handed the crying infant to Alex and went to hug her husband Awesome one final time. "Are you sure you're doing the right thing?"

"Babe, someone has to be there to patch them up if something happens. I know how to skydive. You don't. Until this is resolved, our family is not safe. It's not fair, I know, but we can't trust anyone outside of our family. Take care of Clara and make sure the clinic is ready in Castle in case we need to perform surgery when we get back. I love you babe. You're awesome. Take care of our awesome daughter." Devon turned and without looking back climbed the steps to enter the Lear jet.

Mary hugged Clara and Alex and walked to Ellie, "it'll be OK. We'll be back."

"I can't lose you Mom. Not after all these years. Clara needs her grandmother. I can't lose my husband. I can't lose Chuck, or Sarah. To be honest, I'd feel much safer with Casey and Verbanski back in one piece as well. I even want Morgan to make it back. Promise me Mom, everyone comes back."

Mary said nothing, not wanting Ellie to sense her fears about the danger of what they were seeking to uncover. She simply gave Ellie her most motherly hug, smiled, picked up her bags, turned and made her way to the plane.

Chuck was the lone passenger yet to board.

Chuck smiled at Alex before hugging her. He leaned over to kiss the top of his niece's head. Turning to his sister, Chuck hugged Ellie. "It'll be OK, sis. I promise. I'll make sure we all come back. What's the worse that could happen? Casey gets shot again? You know how he loves new scars and Verbanski will think its sexy."

Ellie frowned, wiped her tears and hit Chuck as hard as she could on his shoulder before hugging him as hard as she could. Chuck embraced his sister, wishing he could make Ellie feel safe.

Releasing her embrace of Chuck, Ellie turned and walked back to stand by Alex, taking Clara from the younger woman. Holding Clara on her hip, Ellie waved at Chuck. Clara joined in as did Alex.

"We'll be waiting in Castle. You better bring everyone back Chuck. Alive."

"Yes, Ellie."

 **In the plane…**

Chuck closed the door after entering the Carmichael Industries jet. Walking to the cockpit Chuck stood quietly watching as Sarah sat in the pilots seat with headphones on. Sitting in the co-pilots seat Casey held a clipboard, the two of them quickly going through the preflight checklist. In minutes the plane would be taxing towards the runway, soon to be airborne.

In the passenger area Morgan was busy tracking the truck and sending the latest location coordinates to Casey. Gertrude was checking parachutes while Awesome was checking his medical kit yet again. Only Mary sat in the back, pensive. Worried.


	17. Chapter 17 - A New Threat

**Chapter 17 – A New Threat**

 **Disclaimer:** Don't own Chuck

"Sarah, the truck has stopped. It appears to be in a secure facility near a ridgeline."

"Morgan, send me the coordinates. Casey, I can handle it from here."

Chuck pulled up the satellite images of the facility. To the western side of the compound was a long ridge running north and south, separating a plateau from the valley below where the facility was located.

The group gathered around to view the images.

"Casey, tell us the best way to deploy and enter the facility," Chuck commanded.

"The perimeter fence is far enough away to be both a problem and a help. If we try to breach the perimeter, we have too much terrain to cover before we can attempt to enter the facility. Internal security forces will have time to prepare a defense. There is enough room for us to jump safely into the compound and regroup in order to begin our penetration. "

"So, you're saying we'll need to make an airborne entry?" Mary asked.

"Yes. If you look up here on the plateau, there is an airstrip. Walker will land here, prepare the aircraft for take off and wait for us."

"What if our insertion fails," asked Devon.

"Walker leaves us. Reports what we know to Beckman and we have to hope Beckman has not been compromised to the extent she can't act on the intel."

Silence fell over the entire group. The seriousness of what Casey had just told them hit home. It was entirely possible none of them would return.

"I'll be ready to go when ya'll make it to the air strip. Casey, you just make sure you have Chuck with you."

"Got it Walker. We don't have time to recon the facility. We'll have to breach it and search for the containers. Set charges as we search. If nothing else, we'll take the facility down with us."

Chuck stood and looked at the group, his family and friends, his heart heavy. Life had been so unjust to the Bartowski family. First the life of spying for his parents, then the Intersect, involving his family and friends, almost losing Sarah and now this. Chuck could feel himself starting to spiral emotionally, panic was beginning to set it.

"Chuck!" He jumped at the sound of Sarah's voice in his earpiece.

"You have to be strong for the team like you are strong for me. Casey will have his hands full fighting. So will Verbanski and Mary. Devon and Morgan are not capable of surviving a firefight on their own. You have to be the leader. Listen to Casey, but you have to lead. You can do it Chuck. Remember, time and time again, you've already been a hero. You're my hero."

Chuck whispered his response to his wife, "Sarah, you're my hero."

Stepping in front of his group to stand next to Casey, Chuck spoke with the confidence and authority of a battle-hardened leader. "Casey will lead the drop and the approach to the facility. Verbanski, you'll breach the entrance we choose to enter through. Casey you lead. I will be right behind. Mom, you take the right flank, Verbanski the left. Devon you stay in the middle of our formation. Morgan you bring up the rear.

Once we've finished our mission, I will lead us out. Awesome and Morgan will be in the middle. Mom you and Verbanski cover the flanks, Casey you delay as long as you can if we're in a firefight."

Chuck looked at the faces of his group. Casey smacked him on the back, nodded his head and grunted.

"Well, let's suit up."

45 minutes later…

Sarah had placed the plane in a circular holding pattern. Tracking the planes location in relation to the selected jump co-ordinates, Sarah began her final descent to bring the jet to the desired altitude for the jump. "Five minutes to drop."

As Sarah focused on the task of flying the plane, she felt a rough touch on her shoulder. Looking up Sarah saw the stone expression of Casey staring down at her. "You have this thing ready to go. I'll make sure Chuck comes back. You have my word Walker."

Staring into the eyes of the hardened soldier, Sarah was moved by Casey's promise. Mouthing the words, "thank you" silently, she reached out to gently touch the arm of the giant warrior who was, next to Chuck, her closest partner.

With nothing more than a grunt to acknowledge Sarah message, Casey was gone.

The group had assembled in single file line. Each had attached their static rip cord to a cable Verbanski had suspended from the ceiling of the plane.

Morgan, who was understandably nervous, chattered incessantly to Awesome. "So, like is this how you do this when you go sky diving? Cause, like this is my first time. You know, I hear you can get killed doing this. Alex would, like gouge my eyes out of my dead body if I get killed. She's got her dad's disposition you know. Couldn't we just land the plane and walk there. There's a road from the air strip down to the facility you know."

"Shut up Grimes. Keep your feet locked together at the ankles. Bend your knees and roll when you hit the ground. Keep your arms up on your harness straps and shut up."

"Gee, Casey, no need to get touchy about it big guy. I'm just feeling a little conflicted here. Like, you know…" Morgan snapped his mouth shut as Casey leaned his face close to Morgan, teeth clenched, emitting a low growl. Morgan squeezed his lips together and ran his finger over them indicating he would zip his mouth shut.

Two lights were mounted above the door, one red and one green. The red light was lighted. Chuck turned and looked at his team one final time. The red light went off and the green light went on. Devon opened the door and Chuck stepped out into the rushing wind.

Casey was next, followed by Morgan, Verbanski, Mary and then Awesome. Sarah pulled the plane up into a climb and leveled off, starting her approach to the plateaus. An automatic door closer fought against the wind to shut the door.

Within minutes the entire group, including Morgan to his delight, had safely landed in the darkness and was quickly pulling in their chutes. Each dug a shallow hole and buried their chute and jump harness.

Forming up into a well-spaced line, Casey took the lead followed by Chuck and they began their silent advance on the facility. Time was of the essence.

 **In the facility…**

Technicians monitored the surveillance equipment protecting the facility and surrounding grounds. Noticing the flight path of the Carmichael jet, a radar operator called to the Chief of Security, "Sir, we have a civilian corporate jet flying over the premises sir. Altitude 1,500 feet and climbing, should I sound the alarm?"

The Chief watched the flight path of the jet and the accompanying data displayed on the monitor. "Probably some rich tourist, just taking a look see. But, it pays to be safe. We don't need a full scale alert. Tell the patrols to tighten up and pay close attention. Send five additional men out to patrol the grounds. Have everyone report to me within an hour."

 **Outside…**

Verbanski had just finished breaking the encryption on the electronic lock and opening the door. Casey went through first, assault rifle held high, ready and willing to unleash mayhem on anyone he found.

Chuck followed, tranq pistol in hand. Mary slipped in and moved to the right to assumer her patrol position. Awesome followed with Morgan, struggling to carry a huge bag of demolition charges, close behind. Detaching her electronic lock-picking device, Verbanski took one final look before entering the facility and closing the door behind her and moving into position on the left flank.

Casey moved rapidly, checking his field of vision from side to side in the dim light. In the distance he saw the truck they had followed. Stopping he held up a closed fist to bring the group to a halt. He pointed in the direct of the truck to indicate he had located it. The group reformed into a single line and advanced to the western wall of the facility to begin the approach to the truck.

Staying in the shadows, the group moved to within fifty feet of the truck when the sound of workers and security troops walking could be heard. Casey again stopped the group, they sank to the ground in the shadows, using stacks of crates for cover.

"What's up with the extra patrol?" one of the workers asked.

"Chief said there may be some intruders on the grounds. You know how paranoid he his. Especially now these things have been delivered."

The foreman of the workers shook his head and looked at the truck warily. "Want to stick around and give us a hand?"

"No, we'll take our chances with the supposed regiment of Marines outside. You can unload those things." Without another word the leader of the security troops motioned towards the entrance Team Bartowski had just used to enter the building and in silence led his men outside.

 **On the jet…**

Sarah sat in the pilot's seat, feeling helpless. The last place she wanted to be was flying the plane. She desperately wanted to be with Chuck, to protect him as she always had in the past. There was simply no one else to pilot the plane and Casey was right where he needed to be.

Flying outside the limited radar range of the facility, Sarah circled the plane, keeping it beyond the radar but within a short flight time to the airstrip when the message came to pick up the team.

"Casey, you promised me," she whispered.

In the facility…

The workers had opened the truck and off loaded four of the five containers. Two more men approached the truck.

Casey pointed to them, indicating he recognized them. It was the tall man with the scarred face and the demolitions expert, Frederich Mueller. Chuck nodded in response.

Casey began moving forward slowly with Chuck close behind. Verbanski and Mary moved in either direction, staying behind crates to maintain cover. Morgan and Awesome wisely did not move.

The man with the scarred face looked at the containers and shook his head. Looking up he spoke softly to the leader of the crew who unloaded the containers. They wasted little time leaving the area.

Scarface looked at Mueller, an expression of disgust and fear etched on his face. He shrugged. "Might as well get this over with. Come on Mueller, let's face the music."

The two approached the first container and after a minute the sucking sound of a vacuum seal being broken could be heard. White fog began to leak from the container as the two men lifted the cover off and sat it on the ground. They repeated the process for each of the other containers and then stepped back to wait.

The silence of the facility was broken by Mary, who had walked out in the open, her mouth open in shock, an expression of sheer terror imprinted on her face. "It can't be…No, it can't be," she screamed.

 **In the Command Center…**

"We have a breach. Security reports unidentified sounds from the unloading area. We have a breach."

The Chief of Security rushed to the technician who had sounded the alert. "What have you got?"

"An unknown number of intruders. They are by the shipment. What are your orders, sir?"

The Chief stood and smiled, folding his arms across his chest. "Let's see if the new troops are all their cracked up to be. Have to test them sooner or later. Order all other security forces to remain clear of the area."

"Yes sir," responded the technician, relaying the message to the two humans by the truck.

 **Castle…**

Ellie and Alex sat in the eating area. Clara was sound asleep in her playpen. The two anxious females looked at each other with worried expressions.

Ellie reached across the table to take Alex's hand. The younger woman was nearly in tears. Squeezing her hand to reassure her, Ellie spoke gently, "your father's there. You know he won't let anything happen to Morgan and Gertrude won't let anything happen to Casey. I'm just as worried as you are. They'll come back."

 **The Jet…**

Sarah sat in the pilot's seat, watching the clock. Time was passing too slowly. Not knowing what was taking place in the facility was eating at Sarah. She hated not being there, feeling helpless in the plane, trapped in relative safety.

 **The facility…**

Stunned by Mary's outburst, the two mercenaries spun to look at Mary. Casey immediately fired two bursts, hitting each man in center mass with three rounds. Charging the containers, Casey came to a sudden halt.

Small, feminine hands had grasped the side of each container, slowly pulling the occupant of each container into an upright sitting position.

Chuck moved his position so he could have a line of sight of the containers. Stunned by what he saw he froze in position, just as Mary and Casey had. Verbanski moved into his field of vision, assault rifle ready to fire and maintained a slow, careful approach.

Morgan, unable to sit still and remain behind cover, moved to obtain a view of the containers and their occupants. Stunned, but not enough to keep silent, Grimes shouted, "It's River Tam! Four of them! No, wait, it's a Greta."

Mary broke her trance and opened fire with her assault rifle, all the rounds finding their mark, tearing into the nearest woman, ripping her flesh open.

Instead of collapsing in a bloody heap, the young woman, dressed in the black skirt and white shirt of a Buy Moore female Nerd Herd technician, turned and smiled at Mary as she reached under her skirt and pulled out three throwing knives, hurling each at Mary, the first two missing narrowly. The third blade managed to hit the small open area between Mary's body armor and her neck, slicing into the muscle.

Mary changed magazines and continued firing into the now advancing girl who looked like a twin to the former CIA agent code named Greta who had briefly worked at the Buy More before being transferred out due to an unfortunate altercation with Jeffster.

The other three Gretas sprung to life, each charging a member of Team Bartowski. Casey blasted away with his weapon, every round hitting center mass, ripping the white blouse open and tearing away the Greta's flesh, revealing a shiny steel sternum. Stunned, Casey paused for only a second before changing magazines, giving the Great the time she needed to launch a kick into Casey's chest, knocking the warrior backwards a good twenty feet.

Undeterred, Casey rose to his feet and began advancing towards Greta, firing in three round burst, again with each bullet striking home. As the bullets found their mark, Greta staggered, but stayed on her feet. In between bursts, taking a single step forward.

Chuck moved closer and fired his tranq pistol into a third Greta. Each of the darts landed in her arm or neck, all having no effect. Having drawn the attention of the Greta, Chuck began to retreat as the Greta advanced towards him. Desperate, Chuck reached behind his back and drew his hated pistol, aimed, closed his eyes and fired every round into the Greta's face at point blank range.

Before he could open his eyes, Chuck felt himself being grabbed by his shoulders and flung through the air, landing against a crate. The wind was knocked out of him as he struggled to remain conscious.

Verbanski fired directly into the approaching fourth Greta. Instead of advancing, she retreated, drawing the Greta away from the group.

The first Greta closed with Mary and began striking repeated crushing blows into Mary's body, driving her back towards the entrance they had used.

Awesome kicked Morgan. "Open the bag. Hand me explosives."

Morgan, his mind still reeling at what he was witnessing, knelt and opened the bag, handing thermite grenades to Awesome who promptly began stalking the Greta whose back was turned to him as it pursued Verbanski.

Casey closed with his attacking Greta, delivering a roundhouse blow to its head, only for the Greta to shake its head at him as if she hardly felt the blow, smiling as she struck him a staggering blow to his chest. Enraged, Casey pressed his physical attack, raining blows down on the slightly framed woman who managed to block each blow.

Morgan, carrying a thermite grenade ran to the aide of Mary, shouting, "Mrs. B, I'm coming."

Leaping on the back of the Greta attacking Mary, Morgan muttered, "Alex forgive me," as he pulled the pin on the thermite grenade. Reaching down the back of the attacking Greta, who had paused in her assault on Mary to deal with Morgan, he stuffed the grenade between her bra and her back, just as she flung Morgan in the air.

The resulting explosion engulfed her in flames, burning away all of her flesh, leaving a shinning, metal like skeleton to burn and collapse.

In the distance, a similar explosion took place as a terrifying scream split the air in the facility. Another of the slender girls seemed to melt before their eyes as Awesome's grenade produced the intended results.

The two remaining Greta's halted their attacks and immediately began to retreat towards the back of the facility. Within seconds they had vanished from Team Bartowski's sight.

The group gathered quickly around the truck. Chuck boosted Morgan in the back and quickly climbed up after him. Within seconds the entire team had surrounded the container. Chuck nodded to Morgan and the two removed the top.

Lying in the bottom of the container was a teenage version of the four Greta's they had just fought. Dressed in black leather pants, a black tank top, combat boots and a purple leather jacket, the teen looked like a typical teenage girl who had an attitude.

Looking down at the girl, Chuck verbalized everyone's thought, "who is she?"

"Wrong question Chuck," Mary said with a near catatonic voice, "what is she?"

Everyone turned to face Mary, who swallowed, her eyes wide in terror.

"Mom?"

Looking down again at the young girl lying in the container, Mary whispered just loud enough for each of them to hear, "it's a terminator."

 **Author's Note:** Before everyone complains that this twist to the plot is implausible, please keep in mind we're talking about Chuck. The Intersect itself is implausible as many of the other villains and story lines. For example, vs. Tom Sawyer, vs. Phase Three, vs. any number of episodes. How many times can they kill Bryce Larkin?

The Greta's are a tip of the hat to Summer Glau, a terminator herself. Glau played the original knife wielding Greta in an episode of Chuck. She also played Cameron Phillips, the teenage female terminator in The Sarah Connor Chronicles. Linda Hamilton, the actress who played Mary Bartowski, also known as Frost, played the original Sarah Connor in the T1 and T2 movie franchises.

Given the proclivity of the writers of Chuck to incorporate story elements of the actor's past work into the Chuck story arc, I don't think it's too big of a leap for the evil villains in my story to possess terminators, particularly ones who resemble one Cameron Phillips/Greta, both played by actress Summer Glau.


	18. Chapter 18 - Casey Unleashed

**Chapter 18 – Casey Unleashed With a Little Help From a New Friend**

 **Disclaimer:** Don't own Chuck or TSCC

"I totally see it! It's Cameron Phillips. Complete in original Terminator regalia!"

"Shut up Grimes."

"Casey, just because you don't have extensive knowledge of American television is no…oooowwwwwww, OK, OK. Shutting up."

The young female in the container snapped her eyes open. Quickly surveying her surroundings, she sat upright. Standing just as quickly she stepped out of the container. In a flash she grabbed Morgan by his tactical harness and lifted him a foot off the ground, demanding "how do you know my name?"

"I knew it! I knew it! You're looking for John Conner aren't you," Morgan excitedly declared.

Just as quick as Cameron had lifted Morgan a foot of the ground she brought him to within an inch of her face, staring him in the eyes, her own eyes flashing blue light from behind her brown eyes.

Calmly yet with clear malice, she asked, "how do you know John Connor?"

"Lucky guess. Luck guess. Can you put me down now please? Casey? Casey? Little help here big guy. Chuck? Chuck buddy? Mrs. B, a little help please," Morgan pleaded.

"You are no threat. To me or John Conner," the teenage girl said tossing Morgan aside unceremoniously. Turning to face Mary, she stepped close to her. "Where is John Conner?"

 **In the jet…**

Sarah fidgeted with the flight controls. It was all she could do to not break radio silence and demand a sitrep. _How did I let them convince me to pilot the plane? As soon as I get Chuck alone, I am going to make him see the necessity of hiring a fulltime pilot. What is going on down there?_

 **In the facility…**

"I hate to break up the reunion, but we need to exit the facility. Now." Casey motioned to gain the attention of the entire team.

"Does anyone need medical attention," Awesome asked? "No? Then I'm with Casey. Let's get out of here. We know what was in the containers, let's go!"

Chuck glanced at his team. "We'll blow a whole in the wall to exit, pointing to the western wall. The road up the ridge should be close to the office over there. Use it as a landmark. Work your way to the office. Set charges as we go. We'll detonate them after we've made our exit. Verbanski, as soon as we breach the wall and make it outside, signal Sarah to make for the extraction point."

Quickly, Morgan began distributing the preset charges to everyone in the group. With the bag half empty, the Cameron terminator took it from him. The entire group froze in fear by her sudden action. Without a word Cameron placed a charge in her container, jumped from the truck and began placing a charge in each of the other open containers.

The members of Team Bartowski leapt into action, each making their making their way towards the office, setting charges amongst the crates and against the steel support beams of the building.

Chuck was the first to reach the office. Kicking the door in he grabbed stacks of papers from the desks inside, stuffing them inside his backpack. He placed the last of his charges in the office and exited.

Verbanski began to plant a charge to breach the wall. The Cameron terminator stopped, looked down at Verbanski and said, "save the charge. It will come in handy later." Without another word Cameron began to punch the walls, pieces of cinder block flying everywhere. In minutes she was punching through the outer steel skin of the building, creating an opening the size of a small door.

Stepping through, she scanned the area for threats.

Morgan could barely contain himself despite his fear. "Chuck, Chuck, $50 bucks says she says it!"

"Not now Morgan, but you're on."

Stepping back through the opening, Cameron looked at the assembled members of Team Bartowski and motioned for them to follow her. A smug smile spreading on her face, she looked first at Morgan and then Chuck. "Come with me if you want to live!"

 **In the jet…**

 _Finally, the extraction signal!_ Sarah banked the jet hard, setting course for the airstrip. Turning off the planes running lights, she flew the darkened plane at maximum speed. Within minutes she was beginning her approach for the landing. No lights were on in the lone building. The runway was dark. Sarah would have to make an instrument landing in total darkness.

 **Team Bartowski…**

Casey emerged last from the building. "Chuck, tell the, whatever it is, to take point and make for the airstrip. Keep an eye on her. She does anything crazy, thermite her."

Verbanski took her position on the left flank. A stunned and silent Mary moved to the right flank. Awesome and Morgan followed Chuck in the middle of the formation.

Casey followed behind, watching the facility as they quickly ran towards the road leading up to the airstrip.

"See any vehicles?" Casey called.

"No, we'll have to make it on foot," Chuck called back.

Speeding from the north of the facility were three trucks. Each truck had a .30 caliber machine gun mounted on the top, the gunner in each firing, tracer rounds lighting up the night as the gunners walked their rounds up to the group. Not waiting to be told, everyone but Casey and Cameron hit the ground, desperately seeking cover. Casey dropped his pack and assault rifle, pulling the 40 mm grenade launcher from his shoulder. Within seconds he was sending rounds downrange towards the trucks. His first two rounds fell short. The third round hit its target, exploding in the truck's grill, bringing the truck to a sudden halt.

The gunner continued firing, redirecting his aim towards Casey's former location. The troops in back quickly deployed, took cover and began firing towards Team Bartowski.

"To the south, more vehicles," Morgan yelled.

Verbanski reoriented herself to fire towards the trucks approaching from the south and began firing short bursts, moving in between each burst.

Chuck, we're going to be trapped in a crossfire," Casey shouted. "Start moving towards the ridge. Get everyone out of here."

Chuck led the group, sprinting ten yards then dropping to the ground for several seconds before rising and changing direction, sprinting another ten yards. Each member of the group followed in a similar fashion, each firing their assault weapon. Awesome looked shocked as he fired and reloaded. Morgan at least was able to keep most of his fire in the general direction of the approaching trucks from the south.

"Awesome, point and fire. Point and fire. You don't have to hit anyone, especially one of us. Just make them keep their heads down if you can. Casey will get us out of here," he reassured the young doctor.

Suddenly the second of the two trucks approaching from the north lurched to its right before tipping on its side, spilling the soldiers in back out. Casey found the range of the third truck with his grenade launcher, hitting it square in the middle of the truck. The resulting explosion lifted the truck in the air, flipping it so it landed on its back, bursting in flames. No survivors crawled away from the raging inferno.

In the light of the fire from the burning truck, Cameron could be seen straining to tip the large truck back on its wheels. Slowly she righted the truck until it's own weight helped it upright, back on its wheels. She sprinted around the truck, yanked the driver's door from its hinges, reached in and pulled the driver out, tossing him aside like a rag doll.

Within seconds she had restarted the truck and began racing towards the group. Slowing her speed, Cameron leaned out the driver's door and without stopping grabbed Mary around her waist and lifted her into the truck's cab. Cameron took one look at Mary before ordering her, "work the machine gun. Lay down covering fire on the ground forces north of us. Mary did as instructed, standing up through the round opening in the truck's roof, pulling the .30 cal. around and opening fire, pinning down the advancing troops who had made it out of the trucks alive.

The threat to the north now limited to scattered light arms fire, Casey turned his attention to the vehicles approaching from the south. Sending more grenades down range, he sprinted in the direction of the five trucks racing towards the team. He felt a sudden sting in the back of his right shoulder, the pain burning its way down his right arm.

Cameron made a hard right turn, sending dirt and rocks flying as she slammed on the brakes, yelling at Awesome and Morgan, "get in back. Laydown suppressing fire to the north."

As soon as she picked up the two men, she sped towards Verbanski, slowing for her to pull herself up on the side of the truck, climbing through the passenger door. Leaning out of the window, she continued firing at the approaching vehicles from the south. Turning back towards the building, Cameron began a circular approach to pick up Casey. The big man tossed his grenade launcher to the ground, having fired his last round and began sprinting to match the speed of the truck. Grabbing the tailgate, he leapt and pulled himself aboard, grabbing Awesome's assault rifle and opening fire.

Cameron accelerated, lining up the front of the truck with Chuck. "Mary, drive." Without another word, Cameron let go of the steering wheel and climbed out the missing door, holding on the doorframe and leaning over with her left arm extended.

A desperate Mary dropped quickly behind the steering wheel, fighting to maintain control of the truck as it bounced over the rough open ground. Chuck by now was running at full speed, looking over his shoulder at the rapidly approaching truck.

Cameron leaned over and jumped off the truck, sprinting towards Chuck, grabbing him on the run and tossing him over her shoulder. She swerved back towards the truck, matched speed and jumped on the running board, catching the doorframe with her right hand. "Move over Mary," she ordered.

She twisted her upper body, swinging Chuck into the cab. Mary pulled her son to the middle of the truck and clung to him, speechless.

In the back, Casey sat down as the truck sped towards the steep road to the airstrip. Reaching into Morgan's backpack, he grinned as he pulled out the detonation device, arming it. Without hesitation, he set off the charges in the facility as they sped away from it. The blast sent flames and smoke high into the sky, momentarily distracting their pursuers.

"Chuck, drive," Cameron ordered. Swinging out of the open cab door, she climbed over the side of the truck and into the back. Grabbing Morgan's bag containing the remaining explosive charges, she began arming each manually and then throwing them in the direction of the pursuing trucks. Within seconds the charges, hundreds of yards from their truck, began to go off, distracting their pursuers.

Casey grinned. "Save some." Morgan passed Casey several charges and he set them for radio control detonation. Morgan dropped them out of the truck as they sped up the road climbing the ridge to the airstrip.

Cameron held out her hand, silently demanding the detonator. Casey frowned before handing it to her.

Using her cybernetic vision, she detonated the first charge just as the first truck passed over it, effectively blocking the road until their pursuers could shove the flaming vehicle from the road.

 **On the airstrip…**

Sarah stood in the open door of the jet. In the distance she could see gunfire and explosions. She recognized the explosions from Casey's 40mm grenades and watched as the tracer fire zipped through the darkness. Watching in dismay, as the enemy forces seemed to have Team Bartowski caught in a trap, she watched as one truck exploded and another turned over. Seconds later the third truck in the north exploded. To her surprise, the overturned truck seemed to right itself and began driving in an odd pattern. She realized a member of the team was driving and picking up the others.

Realizing they might have a chance to escape, Sarah ran to the cockpit to make sure everything was ready for takeoff as soon as everyone was aboard. Leaving the cockpit, Sarah grabbed her assault rifle and took position in the open door.

In the distance the sound of gunfire grew closer as the security forces continued their mad dash to catch up to the escaping Team Bartowski. The truck pulled on to the darkened airfield and sped toward the waiting jet. It pulled to a stop 30 feet form the jet. The first member out the back was Awesome, followed by Morgan. Verbanski hoped out of the truck from the passenger door and shoved Awesome and Morgan towards the waiting jet.

Before Verbanski could take another step she flew away from the truck, landing on her back. She did not move. Mary screamed in terror as Chuck pulled her from the cab, jumping down through the opening where the driver's door had been.

From the back of the truck, automatic weapons fire exploded in the direction of Verbanski's invisible attacker. Sparks flew of what appeared to be a pair of enemy soldiers approaching the truck. Circling the truck and moving towards the plane, Sarah saw what she thought were identical twins dressed in the typical Buy More Nerd Herd uniforms for women, black skirts and white blouses.

"What on earth? That looks like the first Greta," Sarah muttered.

Awesome and Morgan sped up the aircrafts, steps, yelling in unison, "shoot Sarah! Shoot!"

Firing at the backs of the two Greta lookalikes, Sarah watched in horror as her bullets ripped into their backs, having no effect as Casey and another individual fired point blank into the Greta's chests. In the haze and smoke, Sarah saw the second gunman leap through the machine gunners roof hatch, put the truck in gear and accelerate, running over the two Greta's who had never stopped firing their pistols at Casey and the second gunner.

Chuck climbed the steps and yelled at Sarah, "take Mom." Stunned by what she had seen, Sarah moved slightly out of the way and then grabbed Mary, pulling her through the door before sticking her head back out and watching Chuck as he sprinted to Verbanski and picked her up, tossing her over his shoulder and running back to the plane.

Morgan and Awesome pulled Verbanski through the door. Chuck yelled to Sarah, "get ready for take off. I'll get Casey."

Sarah sprinted to the cockpit. Everything was ready for takeoff. As soon as she got word, they would airborne in less than a minute.

Chuck ran to the rear of the truck and pulled the tailgate down. To his horror, the Cameron terminator, half of her face blown off, including one of her human eyes, looked at him. Her steel skull and optical sensor exposed. In her arms was an unconscious and bleeding Casey.

"Help me. I am damaged," Cameron said. She stood and slipped to the ground. Turning, she managed to lift Casey's huge frame from the truck, staggering to maintain her balance.

Chuck took onside of Casey, in awe the frail looking girl could lift Casey's bulk, and the pair struggled to the waiting aircraft. Waiting hands pulled Casey on board. Chuck climbed up and turned to look at the cyborg horror standing at the bottom of the steps to the plane. Sounds of enemy trucks nearing the top of the ridge spurred Chuck into action. Descending the stairs, he reached around the shoulder of the damaged Cameron and began half pulling her onboard and half helping her struggle to climb the steps on her own. Morgan and Awesome's waiting hands helped Chuck get Cameron through the door. Chuck dove through the door, slammed it shut and sealed it.

"Go Sarah! Take off now!"

 **Somewhere over the western United States…**

The plane was on autopilot, flying at high altitude.

In the passenger area, Casey lay on a makeshift stretcher on the floor. Two IV's bags suspended from suction hooks attached to the ceiling were visible, the tubes running to Casey's right arm. One was for saline fluid, antibiotics and painkillers, the other blood.

Verbanski sat in a seat. Watching Casey with no emotions on her face.

Morgan sat next to her, holding her hand. Watching Casey with concern on his face.

Awesome sat on the empty seat on the other side of Casey, his stethoscope around his neck, blood on his gloved hands.

In the back Mary sat on one bench seat. On the other side of the cabin, facing her on the opposite bench seat was the terminator Cameron. The two sat and stared at each other. Mary blinked only occasionally but did not break eye contact. Cameron stared into Mary's eyes, never blinking. Both remained silent.

Awesome stood and walked to the front of the plane, motioning Sarah and Chuck into the cockpit.

"He's lost a lot of blood. The plasma will help and so will the fluids. He took a round in the back of his right shoulder. Another grazed his skull. Lot of blood loss from that one, head wounds bleed profusely. Probably has a concussion as well. Looking at his upper chest, he took a lot of rounds in his vest at almost point blank range, my guess from those two Greta things. No rounds penetrated. I'm worried about internal bruising around his heart and lungs. Without an x-ray on this plane I can't tell. His breathing is OK for now. His vitals are depressed slightly but holding very steady. I've got the bleeding stopped but I've got to get him either to a hospital or our clinic at Castle and soon. Casey's tough, but he's not getting any younger. I'm worried about the total wear and tear from the past."

"How's Mom?"

"Chuck, I'm worried about her. She doesn't seem to have any physical wounds but she's close to being in a state of shock. I tried to give her a sedative to help her sleep but she refused. Gertrude is OK. Just stunned more than anything else, couple of bruised ribs would be my guess. So is Morgan."

"What about that, thing with Mary," Sarah asked.

Awesome shook his head. "I don't even want to speculate what's going on medically there. I asked it if it was OK, I didn't know what else to do. It just looked at me for a second before telling me it's right leg needed repair, it would need the bullets removed but there was no need to worry about it. The skin would regenerate, as would the eye. To be honest you guys, its kinda freaking me out. Not awesome."

Chuck reached out and touched his brother-in-law. "Thanks Awesome. You did great from start to finish tonight."

Chuck reached to his wife as Awesome returned to watch over Casey. Pulling Sarah into his arms, the two clung to each other for a brief moment. Chuck released Sarah and spoke softly to her, "take us home as quick as you can."


End file.
